


Dating Disaster

by LucyConan



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: "dating to get over breakup", F/M, but things will get better eventually, meddling Cyclone, not a good idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:29:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25979773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucyConan/pseuds/LucyConan
Summary: Paige accepts a dating invitation from a guy she met at the grocery store. It doesn’t take her long to regret that decision.
Relationships: Paige Dineen & Walter O'Brien
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Scorpion and all related characters are the property of CBS - or rather now ViacomCBS - as long as they don’t do the smart things to give us the ending the show deserves I am borrowing them for my and your personal entertainment. 
> 
> Author’s note:   
> This story is unrelated to my previous stories “Buried Alive” and “FerretBly” - and yes, I still plan to write a follow-up for “Buried Alive”, but I keep getting distracted by other story ideas that demand more immediate attention. 
> 
> So I present you: Yet another fix it story (bear with me, there are more where that one came from) 
> 
> And I am truly sorry - I am STILL bad at finding titles for my stories - I do not expect that to ever improve…

Chapter 1  
Dating Disaster

Walter paused as he entered the garage. 

Something was off… 

He spent a few moments to try and make sense of the sensation before realisation hit him. 

There was a familiar scent in the air, one he had last smelled a few weeks ago. 

Paige’s perfume.

But that was impossible. She had left him, walked out of his live and the team had left with her. 

Dismissing the scent as his mind playing tricks on him, he shook his head, then locked the door and reset the garage’s alarm. 

If he was starting to imagine her perfume in the garage, he had to admit that Cabe was right and the break up was affecting him more than he was willing to admit. 

He sighed, then walked over to his desk and sat his backpack down. 

It had gotten late. 

They had both been so engrossed in the coding of the software for the new version of Richard Elia's smart house that neither himself nor Richard had noticed just how much time had passed. 

They both had dimly remembered ordering pizza from a nearby pizza place because Elia’s personal chef had already left for the day, but if asked, none of the two men would have estimated that they had worked for another four hours after the pizza had arrived and been devoured.

Walter threw a last glance at his desk, then decided it was too late to work on one of his own projects tonight. 

The coding session with Richard had been exhausting. They had covered a lot of ground, but they also had been at it all day and Walter had not had enough sleep during the past weeks, so it was only natural he was feeling more than just exhausted. 

He switched off the downstairs lights, then ascended the stairs and walked into his loft, where he stopped short again as the same smell from downstairs assaulted his nose. 

His mind continued to play tricks on him. 

The imagined scent of Paige’s perfume seemed even stronger up here. 

Walter let out a frustrated huff, already knowing what kind of night lay before him. A night filled with nightmares of reliving the night the love of his life had left him, of the night his whole family except for Cabe had left him, all over again. 

Stepping into the bedroom area of the loft, Walter suddenly realised just how wrong his assumption was. 

“Paige!?” 

O X O X O X O 

A few hours earlier:

“I’m heading out, guys.” Paige grabbed her purse and smiled nervously at Happy and Toby lounging on her couch, her right hand tucking absentmindedly on the hem of her blouse.

“I’d tell Ralph to behave, but he’s locked himself into his room.” She sighed. “I guess you won’t be seeing much of him anyway. He hasn’t been thrilled when he heard I asked you to babysit.” 

Happy looked at her, right eyebrow arched. “That’s the understatement of the year!” 

Toby and Happy had barely arrived at Paige’s condo, when Ralph had shot a glare at them as if they were dog poop he had just stepped into, sneered at them, then stomped into his room and slammed the door.

“I know.” Paige heaved another sigh. “I’m sorry! He’s still mad about the break up and us forming Centipede Partners. Me going on a date with someone new is not helping.” She looked at Toby. “Are you sure I’m doing the right thing!?” 

Toby smiled at her. “Of course it is. You’ve been all work, no fun the past few weeks. A night out will do you good, no matter if you want to have a second date with grocery store Chad or not.” 

Paige nodded, then quickly strode over to the door, before she turned to the couple one last time. 

“Bye, see you later, guys.” 

“Have a nice date, Paige!” Happy called after her. 

The door closed behind the former waitress.   
“I hope she has a crappy date!” Happy pulled a face. “Are you sure this is going to work out the way you think?” 

“You have confirmed yourself that Paige seems to be channeling Walter more and more since the break up. She’s got little to no tolerance for mindless chatter and people not keeping up with us. You remember how annoyed she got with that client last week that couldn’t keep up with you and kept hindering your progress by questioning everything?” 

Happy laughed. “It was funny to watch, though I don’t need anyone fighting my fights for me.” 

“And now remember how she described Chad’s appearance to you.” 

“She sounded as if she was describing Walter.”   
“Exactly! She has a date with a guy who looks like Walter in a restaurant she has frequently visited with Walter but there is no way this guy has Walter’s IQ nor behaves like Walter. But her subconscious will expect that and from the markers I have read off of her, she is missing Walter, she is just not admitting it to herself.” 

“So?” Happy asked. 

“It means this date is doomed!” 

The pair turned to the young voice speaking up behind them. 

“Look who’s come out of his lair!” Toby grinned. 

“I couldn’t help overhear your conversation.” Ralph walked closer, then plopped down on one of the two armchairs matching the couch. “You want Walter and my Mom to make up.” 

It wasn’t a question. Ralph had made his observations and now stated his hypothesis. 

Toby nodded in confirmation anyway.

“The blow-up was inevitable and it’s only natural that your Mom got mad, she has been getting more and more jealous from the moment she learned about Walter’s dream at Christmas, even if she didn’t realise it herself. That Walter was keeping going to the lecture with Florence from her escalated her jealousy. At this point it didn’t even matter that from Walter’s perspective, he could have just as well been going with Sly, you or me. Florence admitting her crush on Walter set her off like explosives. Your Mom has had abandonment issues ever since your grandma left in her childhood and both Drew and Tim have not exactly instilled trust in men in her…” Toby took of his hat, ran his hand through his hair, then put his hat back on. 

“The thing she completely forgot in her emotional turmoil is that Walter isn’t a normal guy and that he’d never cheat on her. If anyone is even more gone for his woman than I am,” he batted his eyes suggestively at Happy, “then it’s Walter. He might mess up and put his foot into his mouth, but he’d never ever choose another woman over your Mom.” 

Toby scratched the side of his head. 

“I’ve got Sylvester almost to the point where he’s ready to talk to Walter. He finally admitted that he can’t blame Walter for Florence’s emotions yesterday. We already covered that Walter did not mean the things he said just like your Mom hasn’t meant all those things she hurled at Walter that night.”

The Harvard trained behaviourist shrugged.

“But your Mom is a bit harder to crack than Sylvester. She wants to reconcile with Walter - though Walter will have to make amends, too - but she is not sure if it’s the right way to go.”   
“Therefore you encouraged her to go to that date tonight, expecting she will compare him to Walter and find grocery store Chad lacking.” Ralph concluded.

“Exactly. Paige loves Walter. And as much as she sometimes wishes he was normal, because it would make so many things easier for her, she would never want Walter to change completely. Improve yes, but completely change - no! Walter being Walter is what made her fall in love with him. Of course she is trying to optimise him - all women do that with their partners. And Walter is even willing to change for her. But if he changes too much, he would no longer be the Walter she fell in love with. Anyway. She is in a familiar setting with a man looking like Walter. But the experience will not be the same as with Walter and Paige will hate it.” 

“Then lets see if we can help your plan along!” Ralph grinned and picked up his laptop from the coffee table. 

His fingers flew across the keyboard and only a few minutes later a satisfied smile crossed his face. 

“What did you do?” Happy asked with narrowed eyes. 

“I hacked the restaurant’s computer system through their website. Their reservation form feeds directly into the system they use for their seating system. There are two reservations at the same time, tables for two. The other reservation is on the table Mom and Walter used to sit at. It’s the table we always sat at when I accompanied them. Walter always made sure to request that table because Mom mentioned she liked it best. I have switched the reservations. Mom will now not only dine at the same restaurant, but even at the their usual table.” 

“So, we’re good again?” Happy asked, while Toby gave an impressed nod. 

“Not sure yet.” Ralph replied. “You did start a company competing against Scorpion.” 

“Yeah, we have to eat, you know?” Happy grumbled. “And with Sylvester and your Mom taking their sweet time…” 

Toby leaned towards Ralph. 

“You know, at the moment, Centipede Partners is a fresh start up waiting for it’s first customer to pay us so we have any kind of funds. Your Mom could have easily used your grandma’s money to give us enough funding to get ourselves an office. But she’s keeping it tucked away on the Cayman’s and we’re operating out of our apartment instead of a pretty new office. Plus I don’t really see your Mom hurrying to change that! She claims she doesn’t want to start Centipede with probably dirty money, but I call bullpoop! She’s just stalling.” 

“I hope you’re right!” Ralph sighed. He missed Walter. Not only talking to Walter and the experiments they worked on. He missed him as his father figure. He hadn’t even missed Drew as much as he was missing Walter, but he hadn’t felt like sharing these emotions with his mother or any members of Centipede Partners. 

Walter being together with his Mom had been his dream come true. He had already seen them living together like a real family. 

He wouldn’t have even minded if they had remained at the condo, though Ralph would clearly choose the garage if it was up to him. All those opportunities to sneak down and join Walter in late night projects would just be too good to pass up. 

“I’m always right!” Toby puffed out his chest. “I haven’t trained at Harvard for nothing!” 

Happy just rolled her eyes at her husband. 

To be continued


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paige's date starts - but she can't stop thinking about Walter.   
> At casa Dineen, the three geniuses talk a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note:   
> Everyone, thanks you for the reviews you left on the first chapter of this story.   
> Sorry for the delay in updating - life has interrupted unfortunately…
> 
> When I started to write this, I was planning a very light, even funny story of Paige having an awful date - but the story had other plans and I have learned to do what the story wants…
> 
> I promise I am not going too dark! But we’re not at this point in the story yet anyway. 
> 
> Walter won't make an appearance in person in this chapter - but he will be in every chapter from chapter 3 on.
> 
> On to the story:

Chapter 2: 

In hindsight, the whole idea had been stupid. 

How had she ever come to the conclusion that dating was a good idea to try and get over Walter instead of facing her inner demons and trying to salvage the best romantic relationship of her life?

The way Walter had looked at her the last time she had seen him - and the way she had heard him softly call her name when the door closed behind Team Centipede, Paige was half-way sure he would be open to at least talk about the possibility.

She blamed Toby! 

Toby had encouraged her when she had told him about the dinner invitation - something she had started to regret the second the first sentence had tumbled out of her mouth. 

Toby had been all over her business the same instant. Well, actually he had been all over her business even before that, but he had jumped at the occasion and had gotten even more involved in messing with her life. 

She could not help wondering if there was a hidden agenda behind Toby’s advice. 

Perhaps some form of reverse psychology, because she was sure the Quinn-Curtis couple was just biding their time until Paige and Sylvester announced their willingness to try and reconcile with Walter. 

She had to be blind to not notice that Happy was suffering from the break-up of the only family she had ever known. 

And when Happy suffered, Toby suffered as well. 

Still, Paige was not happy with Toby meddling in her life.

Perhaps having to babysit the angry teenager with the IQ exceeding 200 who had made the past weeks even harder for her would teach Toby to keep his nose out of her business.

Ralph had instantly let her feel his disapproval - just another point to add to the growing pile of reasons Ralph disapproved of her and her actions since she had broken up with Walter and walked out fo the garage. 

No - since Ralph had learned exactly what had been said in the garage. He had been on her side as long as he had only heard her side and Ralph had had the impression that Walter had mindlessly hurt his mother again.

But then he had heard the other side - not even from Walter himself, but from Sylvester, who was incapable of lying to his family and friends and had recounted not only his own words and tone to Ralph, but that of all parts present.

Hearing her own words and tone days after the fact… she had to admit it did not put her into a good light. 

Sylvester’s vivid recount had held up a mirror in front of her - and she had not liked the image that had looked back at her. 

It didn’t matter that Walter had kept going to the lecture with Florence from her. No one deserved to be dumped the way she had dumped him that night. 

Paige had unleashed all her anger on Walter and an angry Paige that no longer held back was an unstoppable force. A force someone still as inexperienced with human interaction as Walter was unable to cope with. 

Ralph, of course, had taken it as could be expected of a child, no, teenager, who identified with the recipient of her anger like he did with no one else. 

Then he had learned about them starting a new team instead of trying to resolve things with Walter and Paige had sunk in her son’s opinion even lower. 

And instead of seeing her son’s growing disapproval and distance as a sign that she was going down the wrong path, she had to go and up it even more by agreeing to date a guy she had met in the grocery store a few times.

She should have known that it would bite her in the butt. 

It had started like a normal date - not that Paige had much experience with dating since Ralph had been born. She only had had dates with Tim in the last few years.

Paige didn’t count the times she went out with Walter as dates in the sense of dating someone to see if there was something more. She had known Walter for more than three years when they had become a couple.

As if by unspoken agreement, they had skipped the dating phase and gone straight to couple date night. Though she wasn’t sure Walter knew the difference.

Paige shook her head to shake off her thoughts. 

She was here now, she would sit through this date, see how it went and then decide on how she planned to move forward. With or without Chad. 

Though she had to admit she was leaning heavily towards ‘without’ already.

Paige had arrived in one of those new pink cabs that exclusively hired female drivers and only transported girls and women to give them a safe way of traveling especially after dark. 

Walter would have happily supplied her with the information that Pink Cabs originated in Dubai, where the drivers were only allowed to transport passengers if at least one of them was female. 

On the other hand, if she had been going out with Walter, he would have been their designated driver. While she usually drove them to cases so Walter could work on his laptop en route, he usually drove when they went out so she could drink wine or a cocktail, something Walter didn’t care for. 

She shook her head again, trying to banish the thoughts about Walter from her mind that had crept back up at her. 

How was she supposed to get through this date if Walter continued to invade her thoughts? 

Paige had debated taking her own car - not ready to give her date her address before they even had completed their first date - a woman had to be careful after all. But she wanted to be able to have that glass of wine Walter driving always allowed her to have… darn it! This was going to be hard!   
She had met Chad only a few times at the grocery store and barely knew anything about him aside from the fact that he was visually pleasing and was pleasant to chat with while waiting for her turn to pay her groceries. 

As her driver dropped her off in front of the restaurant, Paige saw Chad emerge from the cab in front of hers. Out of habit she took note of the taxi service he used. Working with Scorpion had taught her every little detail could be important and by now it had become second nature to her. 

Chad had held the door open for her, led her to the table and pulled her chair out for her. 

At least he seemed to be a gentleman.

The first thing she noticed was the table they were seated at.   
It was the table Walter usually had reserved for them. She was even sitting in her usual chair, while Chad sat in Walter’s chair. 

Sitting with Chad on that familiar table brought another realisation. 

Chad looked a lot like Walter. From his dark curly hair and brown eyes to his olive complexion and even the body type matched.   
The problem was: Chad wasn’t Walter. 

Her heart started aching the moment she sat down and across from her sat someone who was not Walter. Someone who did not behave like Walter. Or sound like Walter. 

“The lady will have the chicken salad and I will have the filet mignon.” Chad’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she shot him a glare he remained oblivious about as he was looking at their waiter. 

It irked her that he had just ordered for her, no matter if her attention had briefly been elsewhere. 

She had not pecked him for a guy who did that and she was pretty sure she did not come across as the kind of woman who liked that kind of behaviour. 

He barely knew her - and he hadn’t even checked in about allergies with her. 

The restaurant was not unknown to her, in fact both Tim and Walter had taken her here and she was familiar with the menu - therefore she was well aware that Chad had chosen the cheapest meal for her, while he treated himself. 

Paige resisted the temptation to call him out - perhaps he was not aware of what he was doing, or it was just coincidence and he really thought she might like what he had chosen for her. 

Paige still bristled inside, but she didn’t want to ruin their date before it really began. She wanted to give Chad an honest chance. It was not his fault she was aching for Walter and as she now slowly started to realise might have only accepted his invitation because of his visual similarities to her ex-boyfriend. 

So instead of calling him out for his inconsiderate action, Paige just forced herself to smile, while a tiny voice in the back of her mind reminded her that any other day, she would have made her point more than clear. 

The date only went downhill after that. 

The humour she had found entertaining at the grocery store wasn’t as funny anymore at the restaurant and she was slowly getting agitated as Chad kept talking about nothing else than himself and what he seemed to think were is biggest accomplishments as employee at the legal department of a department store and as a collector of train models.

She hadn’t felt that bored since Walter had taken her and Ralph to a lecture called “The Beauty and Truth in Mathematic and Science”. It had been a series of lectures and while Walter and Ralph had enjoyed them immensely, she had made sure to find an excuse to not attend more than the first one. 

How she would have enjoyed attending the whole series in one sitting right now - preferably with Walter by her side, his presence taking her mind off of the boring lecture. 

In the privacy of her mind she berated herself again as her thoughts once more brought up Walter. 

That brought her to the next problem with her date. 

He might have managed to get through College to get a degree and work in the position he blathered on about in exhausting detail, but she couldn’t shake the impression that otherwise he was dumb as a brick. 

Or perhaps she only felt that way because from the moment he had sat down in front of her in the restaurant, she had started comparing him to Walter. 

And truth be told, it was hard to make an exceptionally intelligent impression if you were a normal measured against a genius with a 197 IQ. 

Toby would have probably spewed some nonsense about her subconscious expecting a highly intelligent intellect in the man simply because of the visual similarity to Walter. 

She knew she would have dismissed Toby’s explanation, but deep down, she had to admit the guy in front of her was definitely not Walter - and that she loathed that very fact.

Paige was just about to excuse herself to the bathroom so she could text Happy and Toby to make a ‘rescue call’ to give her a reason to leave, when Chad asked her about herself. 

Grudgingly Paige stayed in her seat, after all it would have looked weird if she had run to the bathroom right after his question. She was a bit surprised he had stopped his longwinded speech about praising himself and his accomplishments to hunt down a particularly rare train model long enough to show interest in her.

Perhaps her first impression at the grocery store had been right and he was just nervous. Some people tended to overshare when they were nervous after all…

O X O X O X O X O X 

Back at Casa Dineen: 

“I have to admit I feel kind of bad for hoping Paige has a horrible date.” Happy sighed as she leaned back in her spot on the couch.

They had been watching a TV movie in silence for a while now, so Happy’s statement came seemingly out of nowhere. 

“Me. too.” Toby admitted. “But at the same time I don’t want her to enjoy Grocery Guy’s company either. We want her to make up with 197, remember?” 

“It’s for the greater good!” Ralph said with conviction. “She’ll get over a bad date in the end! Walter will more than make up for it, once they are back together.” 

“Uh huh - for the greater good!” Toby chuckled. “Of course it has NOTHING to do with your preference for who will one day become your step-Dad!” 

Ralph shot him a glare. “Dad! If we’re going down that road! Walter doesn’t subscribe to additions like in-law or step - and neither do I.” 

Happy grunted. 

“Fitting! You sure your Mom hasn’t met and had a one night stand or an affair with O’Brien and you actually ARE his son?”

“Or perhaps Walter donated sperm to touch up his funds so he could start Scorpion or feed his god complex by making his superior genius sperm available to the world and your Mom, wanting to bind her baseball playing beau to herself to avoid him running off into the world to play professionally by getting herself some sperm from a sperm bank. Paige has had abandonment issues from an early age, that can do weird things to people. And now she is too far into this scam to tell the truth.” Toby said with a straight face. 

Happy scrunched up her face as she stared at him in disbelief. 

“Are you drunk? That sounds like the plot of a crappy movie.” She turned to Ralph. “Don’t you have anything to say to my idiotic husband? He’s talking about your Mom after all!” 

Ralph chuckled. “It DOES sound like a bad movie plot. Though I would be more than happy if there was some weird twist and I were Walter’s biological son. Unfortunately the chance for that or a similar scenario being true, are less than 3 percent.” 

“But could you imagine Walter’s face?” Toby laughed. 

“Walter would be thrilled!” Happy said with conviction. “He adores Ralph and I bet he’d give anything if there was a way to make such a scenario come true. Drew’s face is the one I’d like to see when Paige would tell him he has no parental rights in regards to Ralph. He’d have to finally get off her case about sending Ralph to live with him for a while.” 

Toby sobered up instantly. “He’s been bothering her about that? How do you know?” 

“I’ve walked in on her giving him a tongue lashing over the phone - I’m just saying as much: the dressing down she gave Walter was a pep talk in comparison. The idiot thinks just because he found out Paige and Walter br… are currently taking a relationship vacation, he can swoop in and try and steal Ralph from her, if even only temporarily.” 

Toby flinched at Happy’s problem calling Paige and Walter’s break up what it was. The break up of the couple was synonymous with the break up of Scorpion and their cyclone. He made a mental note to try and pick that topic up with her when they were alone again. 

“How come you didn’t tell me?” He whined instead. “I always tell you everything!” 

“Because she asked me not to tell anyone and unlike you I am not a blabber-mouth that can’t keep a secret.” 

“Ralph!?” Toby’s whine turned dramatic. “Buddy, you got to help me out here! After all we just revealed interesting news to you.” 

The teenager snorted. 

“You ARE a blabber-mouth! Besides, who do you think told Drew about the breakup?” 

Toby’s jaw dropped. “You truly are making her suffer for breaking up with Walter!” He wasn’t sure if he should be impressed or scared. If Ralph didn’t hold back when it came to his Mom… 

“Like I said, it’s all for the greater good!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paige’s date with Chad goes south even worse than she could have thought - who is she going to turn to for comfort?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: attempted sexual assault 
> 
> The scene is only short, but I understand that it can be a trigger. 
> 
> So you can still enjoy the rest of the chapter, I have marked the beginning and end of the scene so you can easily skip it. Reading the scene is not essential to the rest of the story, knowing the nature of the scene is sufficient   
> For those who want to read it - I have made sure to not make it too graphic or extensive. But it remains what it is: an assault scene.
> 
> Authors Note:   
> As I said in the last chapter, my original intention had been to have a light story with a crappy date for Paige that made her realise that she missed Walter - the story had completely other plans - and I have learned to follow the story.
> 
> I promise things will get better soon.
> 
> This chapter is also a bit longer than the first two because I did promise you Walter being present in every chapter from Ch 3 on - plus after writing the marked off scene, I needed to end this chapter with Paige being where she is at the end of it. 
> 
> Enough of my rambling - on to the story.

Chapter 3

Paige was officially done with this date! 

She had already admitted to herself that she didn’t really care about Chad. 

She had reacted to his visual similarity to Walter and starting something new had been easier than face the truth that she had behaved horribly in the way she had dumped Walter. Instead of giving him a chance to explain himself, she had attacked him verbally, had made him lash out in defence and then walked out on him. 

And now she was too scared to go back and see if he would forgive her. 

What if Walter still loved her, but the way she had broken up with him had burnt him so badly he didn’t want to give them a second chance? 

Paige was not sure if she would be able to take being responsible for ruining any chance to rekindle their love. 

Instead she had gone the easy way and agreed to date the first guy to ask her out. 

Paige would have been able to deal with the most boring date of her life. She would have been able to sit through it, smile nicely and then later, when he asked for a second date - IF he asked for a second date, she’d just have let him down gently. 

But no, Chad had to go and completely ruin the evening. 

After he had droned on about himself in exhausting detail, Paige had been caught off guard when he finally started to show actual interest in her. 

Of course Ralph had been the first topic she had brought up. He was her most important thing after all and she couldn’t be prouder of her son. 

From the first moment on, Paige had the feeling that Chad wasn’t very comfortable with he topic of children. 

It surprised Paige, as Chad had been aware she had a teenage son from their small talk at the grocery store. If he wasn’t interested in a woman with attachment, then why had he asked her out? 

/Perhaps he just wants to give his gooties a little workout?/ Paige almost choked on her white wine at the comment popping up in her mind, fittingly voiced in what sounded like the one and only Toby Curtis.

The resulting frown on her face thankfully went unnoticed by Chad as his attention was drawn to a table halfway across the room. 

The table seated a small family with a teenage girl and a young boy Paige estimated to be about five or six. The family seemed to be done with their main course, empty plates still sitting in front of them. 

Chad’s attention had been drawn by the young boy’s voice ringing out over the rest of the noise in the generously measured room.   
“Ice cream! I want ice-cream!” The child demanded loudly, his voice on the verge of tears. 

The teenage girl, seated facing towards Paige’s and Chad’s table, rolled her eyes, tossed her hair back and concentrated back on the smartphone in her hand, ignoring the ruckus her little brother made opposite from her. 

Chad was fully turned towards the scene, watching as the mother leaned over to her boy and tried to placate him while her partner threw apologetical glances at the waiter who looked more than embarrassed by the scene he had unwittingly been drawn into. 

Paige winced. She knew the restaurant had a wide range of selected dessert options. The classic kid’s favourite - simple ice cream - was not among them. 

As the mother finally managed to calm her child down with the promise of getting ice cream on the way home, Chad turned back to her. 

She almost jumped at the sneer on his face. 

“What a spoiled brat!” Chad’s lip curled in disgust. “Children should be seen, not heard. And if they can’t control their child, they shouldn’t take their disgusting spawns to restaurants and disturb other people’s meals.” 

Paige started to bristle inside, feeling her boredom subside as anger on behalf of the little family rose inside of her. 

Before she could respond, Chad’s sneer vanished, replaced by an aloof expression. “I hope your child is better behaved.” 

“Ralph is a thirteen.” She answered tersely, “And as I already told you, he is very advanced for his age.” 

“A yes, a genius as you said.” Chad’s voice held a mocking tone and Paige wondered what had happened to the nice guy she had met while shopping for food. 

Wherever he was, he was no longer sitting at her table - if he had ever sat down at it. 

“He has an IQ of 205.” Paige replied, sharpness in her voice. 

Normally she would not have felt the need to take a defensive stand, instead would have deemed it beneath her - but this was about Ralph and she would always jump to Ralph’s defence, especially if his status as a genius was challenged. 

“Yeah right.” Chad rolled his eyes. “And who told you that? A multiple choice test in one of those parenting magazines? Why do you women always think your children are the most precious and special to justify their bad behaviour? Is it something they inject you with when you press those little pests out of your body?” 

Paige’s anger exploded so fast, she was sure she felt a blood vessel pop in her brain. Paige’s eyes flashed with anger. How dared he?

She didn’t care what was wrong with the guy, if the scene with the ice cream drama at the other table had triggered something in him. 

Something obviously had to be wrong with him to make him escalate so quickly at the topic of children. But Paige couldn’t give a damn. She wasn’t the guy’s therapist and his demeaning comments had squished any of her usual instincts to help people and show sympathy. 

No one got to badmouth her genius son. No one!

“No, the man with the fifth highest IQ currently alive made the assessment” Paige said sharply. “I have a pretty good idea that he would rate your IQ anywhere near the common garden slug. I have no idea what is wrong with you that causes you talk about children and women that way, but I frankly don’t care. Whatever it is, it’s a you problem!” 

Paige rose to her feet and grabbed her purse. 

“Our date is over.” She said and turned to leave. 

She couldn’t muster up any positive emotions for the man any longer, though she suspected Toby would have a handy explanation for his outbreak. 

Paige simply didn’t care. There was no excuse to talk that way about women and children in general or Ralph and her specifically - without even really knowing them to boot. 

It was time to end this now and declare the experiment of dating the grocery store guy a failure. 

/This experiment is over!/ Paige flinched at the thought that shot through her mind as she stepped away from the table.

O X O X O X O X O X O 

Paige exhaled deeply as she stepped outside the restaurant. 

She was glad she had made it outside without making even more of a scene than they already had. 

People had already started to stare when Chad had started his rant about children and their parents, increasing in volume until Paige had cut him off to tell him that there was no point in continuing their date. 

Of course it had not been taken well - as if it came as a surprise that she didn’t want to continue the date after the things he had said. 

Before she had been able to get even five steps away from their table, he had started to bemoan loudly how women thought they could exploit men for drinks and dinner and then leave them sitting on the bill. 

Paige had spared herself getting into a verbal fight with the idiot and had thrown the money for her dinner and the restaurant’s cheapest wine - also Chad’s choice - onto the table before storming towards the entrance. 

On the short way to the door she had used her smartphone to order a cab via the Pink Taxi app- while part of her wondered how she could have been so wrong in judging the guy’s character. She used to be so good at this. 

“Your former boyfriend was weird, but at least he wasn’t an asshole!” One of the waitresses told her as she passed her and Paige sent her a forced smile before she hurried out the door. 

Once outside, Paige walked a couple of steps away from the entrance. 

The street was deserted, not unusual as it was off the bigger, more populated streets. Paige barely noticed it. She had always liked the restaurant because it was off the main routes and less frequented than others, despite the good food it served.

A glance at the screen told her the the taxi was still almost five minutes out. 

Paige shook her head, her mind wandering again. It had been a stupid idea! Why had she thought it would be a good idea to not face up to her mistakes and see if she could at least salvage her friendship with Walter if he wasn’t open to rekindle their relationship… 

Walter, who adored Ralph, understood him like no other.   
She shuddered at the thought of what damage could have happened if Chad had not shown his true opinion about children so quickly. What if she had taken him home to meet Ralph… started a relationship with the man and exposed Ralph to him.

X X X X - Beginning of possible trigger scene X X X X 

Before she could finish the thought, a hand grabbed her arm roughly and dragged her into the nearby alley. 

“What the…?” Paige started, then dug her heels in. “Chad!?” She was taken aback as she looked into her attacker’s face. 

Chad’s face held no resemblance to Walter anymore. Not the way it was contorted in anger, his eyes piercing hers.   
“I’m fed up with stupid bitches like you!” He growled as he dragged her deeper into the alley, then slammed her back first into the wall. 

Paige yelped more in surprise than from the pain of the impact. 

“You think you only need to bat your pretty eyes and we open our wallets and treat you to dinner and wine and you don’t have to do anything in return…” he grunted as he held her with one hand around her throat, while his other groped her breasts. 

“Stop it!” Paige told him as she tried to shove is hands away, but Chad only continued to grope. Paige felt her blouse tear and suddenly she felt his fingers on the skin of her left breast where it wasn’t covered by her bra cup.   
“I said, STOP IT!” Paige cried out louder, then screamed loudly. “HELP!” 

Chad growled and squeezed his hand around her throat, as his other hand shoved lower, now groping her painfully between the legs. 

As her airflow became restricted, panic rose in Paige. She blindly started to hit Chad with one hand while her other clawed at the hand squeezing her throat, trying to pull it away. but he continued to hold her in place. 

/This can’t be happening!/ Paige thought as bile started to rise in her throat. /Please! NO!/

She struggled against the hold on her throat, now clawing with both hands at the wrist and arm that belonged to the hand sharply restricting her air flow. 

She felt his other hand groping her and she would have slapped the disgusting touch away, but the lack of air to breath was the more immediate concern as panic started to fill her mind. 

Just as spots started to explode in front of her eyes from the restrained air flow, Paige managed to draw her leg back as much as the wall behind her allowed and then swiftly kicked forward and upward with all the strength she could still summon, ramming her knee where it would hurt most. 

A pained cry sounded out and she felt roughly pulled forward before she suddenly could breathe freely again.

She drew her arm back and punched the bent over man in front of her as hard as she could, sending him sprawling on the floor before she turned around and ran out of the alley, hoping it would give her enough of a head start to get away before he recovered enough to try and catch her before she got out of the alley. 

X X X X - End of possible trigger scene X X X X

She barked out a relieved laugh as she reached the street and the pink taxi she had ordered pulled up in that exact moment. 

She pulled the door open and let herself fall into the back seat. 

She wanted to bring as much space between herself and Chad as possible as quickly as possible. 

The driver turned around and looked at her with big eyes. The woman had short, purple hair and even as she was sitting in the drivers seat, Paige could see from her spot in the back of the car that the woman seemed to spend a lot of time lifting weights. 

She instantly felt a bit safer. She was sure, if Chad would chose this moment to pull the cab door open, her driver had the strength to knock Chad out. 

“Are you alright, girl?” She looked Paige up and down and her eyes pointedly stopped at Paige’s chest. 

Paige followed her eyes and groaned. Her blouse was ripped open, exposing her chest and the lacy black bra she was wearing. 

“I… I managed to fight him off.” She swallowed. “Can we leave, please?” She asked. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to call the police?”

“No, I just want to go home!” She nervously looked out the window towards the alley. “Can we go now? I kicked him in the gooties…” she added, as hysteric laughter bubbled up in her throat as she used the word Toby had somehow managed to ingrain in the team’s vocabulary. 

The woman grinned. “Good!” She pulled out onto the lane. “So, where’s home? And are you sure he doesn’t know where you live?” 

Paige thought for a moment. She had never told Chad where exactly she lived. But what if he followed her home? What if he managed to hail a taxi and have it follow them. Or worse - what if he had his car stashed nearby and arriving with a taxi had only been for show? What if he had planned to attack and rape her right from the start? 

Rape! 

The single word burned in her mind. She had come so close to being raped tonight. What if she had passed out before she had gotten her wits together enough to kick him where it hurt? 

Her heart began to race. 

She had almost been raped and it was her own fault. Her own fault for being too afraid to talk to Walter. Too afraid he might have come to the conclusion he didn’t want to sort this mess out with her and give her, them, another chance. 

They had both made mistakes, but while she, once she had calmed down and thought about everything, knew Walter had not had bad intentions, she had lashed out and thrown all his insecurities and shortcomings in his face - in front of anyone.   
What if he had come to the conclusion that love was after all, just junk science - or not worth the pain it could cause if things didn’t work out? 

Intellectually she knew what had just happened was not her fault. The only one at fault for attacking her was the man who had attacked her. 

But an evil little voice in her head took special glee in pointing out to her that all of this would not have happened if she had just sucked it up and talked to Walter. 

All she wanted was to go home right now. 

At home, Happy, Toby and Ralph awaited her… her mind halted. She couldn’t deal with Toby and Happy right now. Happy would be livid - she’d probably find the guy and give him a well deserved beating with her wrench - and Toby would try to shrink her on the spot. She knew he would only mean well, but she was sure she wouldn’t be able to bear it. Not yet. 

And then there was Ralph. She didn’t want him to see her like that. 

All three of them, as much as she loved each of them, where not what - or rather who she wanted - no - needed right now.

She sighed as she realised where she needed to go. 

She gave her driver, Tessa, as she could read on the ID mounted on the dashboard the address, then leaned back and tried to calm down. 

As the adrenaline left her blood stream, the tears came. 

O X O X O X O X O X O 

Tessa watched her passenger through the rear view mirror. 

The woman was not the first woman she picked up hat had been attacked by a man. She had seen it often enough to see the signs and she also knew that it was futile to try and get her to call the police or take her there if she wasn’t ready to go.

She would either call the police later or not at all. 

Tessa would have loved to see every jerk who attacked women go behind bars, but she knew it was not in her hands. All she could do was offer the women a passage to safety - but it was the victim that needed to dictate where exactly that safe place was she took them to.

She had watched as the silent tears had started to fall, now that the adrenaline rush had subsided and the reality of what had happened was setting in. 

Tessa had softly asked her if she had someone once she was at her destination and the woman had only answered with a cryptic. “I hope so.” 

Tessa knew better than to press. 

As they arrived at their destination, Tessa was doubtful. It was an industrial area, and the garage she wanted to be taken to lay in complete darkness.   
“Don’t let him get away!” Tessa told her as the woman started to get out of the car. 

Paige smiled at her grimly through her tears. “We won’t. He’ll probably wish I had called the cops instead.” 

Tessa wasn’t sure how she meant it, but if it meant the guy who had attacked her got what he deserved, Tessa was satisfied and would deny ever hearing her passenger make such a potentially incriminating remark should she ever be questioned about it. 

She stayed in her spot as the woman walked up to the metal door of the garage and started banging on it. 

She was about to tell her to get back into the car to take her somewhere else, when she watched her fumble with her purse and pull out what seemed like a bundle of keys. 

A moment later the woman stepped inside and closed the door behind her without looking back. 

Tessa waited for another five minutes, but the woman didn’t come out again. Instead she saw a faint light go on behind the big window front on the upper level. If she had not been looking for it, she might have missed it.

As the next call came in, she put her car into gear and drove off. 

O X O X O X O X O X O 

As no one answered the door, Paige started to consider climbing back into the taxi and going home. 

She had not considered the possibility that Walter might not be at the garage. 

Then she remembered that she had never returned her key to the garage. 

Her eyes grew wide as she fumbled around in her purse until she found her key chain and flipped through the keys until she found the one she needed. 

Once inside, she remembered the alarm system Happy had installed shortly before they had walked away. She quickly stepped over to it and put in the code. 

She sighed with relief that Walter had not changed the code after they all had left. 

A sad smile crept on her lips. That meant he had either hoped they would return - or been confident they would not return to steal or spy on Scorpion. 

“Walter?” She called out, “It’s me, Paige!” 

She waited for a moment, but no response. Well, it made sense. The garage lay in complete darkness. And it was a lot earlier than the time Walter usually went to bed when he stayed behind at the garage alone.

The lights from the street lamps were enough to illuminate the silhouettes of the furniture and Paige slowly made her way through the familiar garage. She didn’t want to switch on the downstairs lights and alert anyone outside to her presence. 

She knew the enterprises in this area had hired a security company to patrol and if they knew no one was supposed to be in here, they would be alerted. 

She slowly made her way towards the ramp, deeming the stairs unsafe in the darkness as she climbed up the stairs and entered the loft. 

“Walter?” She called out again. 

No answer. 

Paige made her way deeper into the loft until she reached the bedroom area. 

“Walter?” 

Still nothing. The loft felt empty, too. 

She slowly made her way over to the bedside table and switched on the lamp. 

The dim light illuminated an empty bed. 

Paige licked her lips as her mind supplied her with memories of Walter and her in his bed. 

Following an inner urge, Paige slipped off her shoes and climbed onto Walter’s bed. 

She reached for Walter’s pillow with trembling fingers, then brought it up in front of her. 

Before she realised what she was doing, she was pressing her nose into it and inhaled Walter’s scent deeply. 

Suddenly the tears came back. 

O X O X O X O X O X O 

“Paige!?” 

Walter stared at the scene before him with disbelief. 

If his mind was still playing tricks on him, then his mind was going to great lengths to fool him. 

Paige was sitting on his bed, her knees drawn up towards her chest. Between her knees and her chest she had his pillow, which was stained with the makeup that was smeared on her face, the mascara halfway down her high cheekbones and the lipstick smeared around her trembling lips from pressing her face into his pillow.

It was evident that Paige had been crying and not just a little. 

As he had entered, Paige had had her face buried in the pillow, the pillow muffling the sobs that were heaving her shoulders. 

At hearing her name, Paige had lifted her head from the pillow, allowing him to see the state of not only his pillow, but more importantly her face. 

“Walter!” Paige sobbed, “where were you?” 

It didn’t sound accusingly or like she actually demanded to know his whereabouts. 

It was more a plea. She had apparently been looking for him and his absence had devastated her even further in addition to whatever had brought her to the garage.

“I’m here!” Walter said as he quickly closed the distance and sat down on the bedside. 

Paige dropped the pillow to her other side and instead buried herself in his arms. 

“Has… is… Ralph?” Walter asked, fear spiking up in side of him as he tried to figure out what might have put her in such a distraught state that she had come to the garage and sat on his bed, crying. 

He felt her shake her head no against his shoulder. 

“Ralph’s at home.” She mumbled into the fabric of his shirt. 

“Are you hurt?” Walter continued to question. 

Again Paige shook her head no. 

“What happened?” 

“Just hold me. Please just hold me!” Paige started to cry harder again. 

End Chapter


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seem to be on a roll right now - I only posted Chapter 3 a couple of days ago and can already present you Chapter 4. Too bad my at home vacation is over next week… This chapter is a bit shorter - but I just found the perfect spot to cut the chapter and couldn’t resist it.   
> Chapter 5 is already sectioned off and ready for final editing - I am very proud of myself right now.

Chapter 4 

Walter slowly drifted awake. 

The first thing he became aware of was a familiar weight on his chest and hair tickling his chin. 

A soft smile crept onto his lips and excitement blossomed in his chest as he realised the sensations were real and not just a figment of his imagination. 

Then the memories of the previous night surfaced, reminding him just how Paige had reentered his life and worry overshadowed his excitement at her return. 

After he had adhered to her request and taken her into his arms without questioning her presence, Paige had cried herself to sleep within minutes before she could tell him what had happened.   
Though remembering the state she was in, especially the torn front of her blouse gave him a vivid idea of what might have happened. He could only hope that she truly had not been hurt. 

Even though Paige’s unexpected presence in his loft - and particularly on his bed - had shortly dispelled his exhaustion, Paige’s deep breaths had quickly lulled him to sleep as well. The extensive work session with Richard Elia had taken a bigger toll on his already sleep deprived state. 

The calming presence Paige had always had on him had overridden his worries and he fell asleep before he knew what happened. 

He had been awake long enough to send off a short text message before he, too, had succumbed to sleep - which brought him to the second sensation he became are off. 

The feeling of being watched by multiple pairs of eyes. 

Considering whom he had sent the text to, he had a pretty good idea who was watching them sleep. 

Just as he decided to just get it over with and open his eyes, someone cleared their throat impatiently. 

Walter sighed as he opened his eyes. 

His assumption had been correct. 

Happy Quinn stood at the foot end of his bed and looked down at Paige and himself, her arms crossed in front of his chest and her left eyebrow raised. 

Anyone not knowing Happy would have mistaken the expression on her face for disapproval, but Walter knew her long enough to identify the minute upwards tug of her lips, turning her expression to one of mirth for those who had learned to read her. 

She was framed by Toby to her left, who was sitting backwards on one of the chairs from the kitchen - great - had he really slept through them moving furniture around? Toby was leaning with his arms on the backrest of the chair, his chin resting on his folded arms a cheeky grin on his lips. 

On Happy’s right, Sylvester was looking down at him with wide eyes, visibly fretting under Walter’s gaze. 

Considering the current status of their friendship, Sylvester was very anxious about standing in the other man’s bedroom, watching him sleep. But not anxious enough to stay downstairs, facing the danger of Cabe or worse, Florence, walking in. 

Walter turned his head to the right where Ralph was sitting at his desk, facing the bed, a huge grin plastered across his face. 

Before anyone could say anything, Paige stirred and slowly rose. 

As she rolled off of Walter, the bedsheet he had draped around them slipped and the others not only became aware of Paige’s smeared makeup, but also of the clearly torn blouse. 

Walter could see the exact moment they all came to the conclusion to be made. 

Sylvester became even more agitated. Happy’s face turned murderous and the smiles dropped off of Toby’s and Ralph’s faces. 

“Paige, what happened?” Sylvester was the first to find his voice, the anxiety evident in his tone as his voice pitched higher. 

Paige took a few deep breaths, then faced her team. 

“Guys, Ralph, can I talk to Walter alone for a minute?” She could see the protest bubbling up before it was being voiced. 

“Please?” She emphasized, purposefully making big pleading eyes, well aware of how they would be intensified by the smeared makeup. 

She even managed to make tears well up in her eyes - after all her mother had trained her well for their cons from an early age. 

She was ready to throw in a quivering lip for good measure, but the team faltered simultaneously. 

It wasn’t that she wanted to milk the situation for even more sympathy, but she wanted to talk with Walter alone about what had happened. Not in front of the whole team and especially not with her son present. She was also not in any mood for a discussion about her request.   
“I’ll be down in a few minutes and then I’ll explain everything, okay?” 

“Okay, just one thing we need to know before we wait downstairs,“ Happy’s eyes flicked to Paige’s neck and Paige’s hand flew up to cover the spot Chad had grabbed. She swallowed as she realised his grip must have left bruises. 

“Have you been hurt?” 

“Only scrapes and bruises.” Paige said softly. 

Happy held her gaze for a long moment, then nodded, worry still edged into her features. 

“Alright, let’s give them a bit of time.” She turned to Walter. “I hope you don’t mind me pilfering your scrap metal pile. I have the sudden urge to hit something with a hammer.” 

“Knock yourself out.” 

Walter watched as the others turned and walked out of sight. 

Paige waited a few moments more to make sure they were out of the loft. 

She looked at Walter and frowned as she saw his shirt. 

It was smeared with her mascara and lipstick where her head had rested during the night. 

“I’m sorry about your shirt.” 

“That’s what washing machines were invented for, you know?” Walter gave her a soft smile. “The only thing I’m worried about is you.”

Paige smiled softly. She knew Walter wouldn’t care about her staining his shirt or pillow, or about the politeness that dictated she apologised for it. 

Paige drew a deep breath, then recounted the events of the previous night. 

She didn’t leave anything out, not even her thoughts about how she began to regret she was on a date with Chad and not Walter. How she missed him and wanted to cut the date off and how it had gone down the drain from there. 

“All I could think of was that I wanted you to hold me.” Paige sobbed as she finished. 

She had started to cry again when she had come to the moment when Chad had grabbed and dragged her into the alley. 

“I’ve been so stupid to go on a date with a guy I met at the grocery store instead of trying to see if we could mend things. I’ve been so stupid - and see what it got me! This wouldn’t have happened if I’d just called you back!” 

Walter drew her back into his arms and rubbed her back gently. 

He tried to make hushing sounds, but immediately felt awkward at the sound he was producing and instead just concentrated on holding her. 

“I don’t even deserve to be held by you!” Paige struggled against his hold. “I’ve been so ugly to you and yelled at you and then I come crawling back to you and demand you to comfort me.” 

“No, don’t say that!” Walter shook his head. “You know I’ll always be there for you. And you deserve to be held and comforted after what you experienced!” 

Paige started bawling again, but instead of struggling against his hold she now held onto him tightly. 

“I can’t believe you’re willing to comfort me after I was on a date with someone else!” She mumbled against his chest. 

“Paige, if dating someone else makes you realise you would rather be with me instead of someone else, then I’ll gladly accept that.” 

Paige leaned back out of his embrace and looked up at him. 

“You latched onto that fact, didn’t you?” She smiled through her tears. 

Walter nodded, mirroring her smile. 

“Of course, otherwise I’d instantly combust with jealousy.” His smile dropped. “I just wished you wouldn’t have had to experience getting assaulted. I am glad you were able to fight him off.” 

Paige watched as worry clouded his face. 

His fingers came up and brushed across her neck. 

“Does it hurt?” 

“It’s a bit sore.” 

Paige leaned against Walter and gently pushed him down until they lay back down, Paige resting in his arm and lying half on his chest. 

“I’m not ready to go downstairs yet.” She said softly. “Can we just stay like this for a few more minutes.” 

“As long as you want.” 

A mischievous smile crept onto Paige’s face. 

“And if I want to take breaks and continue later?” 

Walter frowned at her. “I am not sure I am following?” 

“What if I would like to do this more than once. Like… over and over again? And other things, too?” Her index finger drew circles around one of the buttons of his shirt from the previous day he was still wearing.

Walter was still frowning, but realisation was slowly dawning as he went through everything Paige had said about the two of them in the last few minutes. 

“Are you indicating that you would like to resume our relationship?” 

“I knew you were a genius!” Paige chuckled. “We still have some things to resolve and maybe at least I will need some outside help to sort some things out, but I would like to give us another try. I know you think that repeating the same actions and expecting a different result is insane, but perhaps if we change a few variables?” 

Paige looked at him hopefully. 

Walter looked like he was thinking about her suggestion, then smiled.

“I would be agreeable to that.” He paused. “Though I want you to know that I never saw our relationship as an experiment.”

“It was wrong of me to say that. I said so many things I didn’t mean that night just to hurt you, before you could hurt me - and as a result I only ended up hurting everyone I love. Ralph missed you, I missed you so much!” 

Walter’s face softened. “I missed you, too.” 

He thought for a moment. “I agree that we should seek outside help to ensure we will not repeat the same mistakes and evolve as a couple. But under one condition…” 

Paige looked at Walter expectantly. She was happy he agreed that they should seek counselling together, that he wanted to actively work on making their renewed relationship work. 

“That outside help is not Toby! I would not feel comfortable sharing things about our relationship with him.” 

“I completely agree.” Paige nodded. “Would you agree to see Doctor Rizzuto?” 

It was Walter’s turn to nod. “Doctor Rizzuto is a good choice. So, are we back together effective immediately?” 

Paige frowned up at him. 

“Yes, why?” 

Walter grinned as he manoeuvred them so Paige still rested against him, but her face was on the same level as his. 

“Then this will be an acceptable action.” 

Paige hummed in agreement as Walter brushed his lips against hers. 

“Very acceptable!” Paige murmured as she deepened the kiss. 

xxxXXXxxx


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day after the failed date continues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note:   
> Thank you for all the reviews - I am always grateful for your feedback.
> 
> So - we have one reunion done - but there is still another one due and of course someone needs to get what the

“I don’t want to go downstairs.” Paige whined. “I want to stay like this. Preferably forever!” 

“Me too, but we can’t.” 

“I know!” Paige still sounded a bit petulant at the prospect of having to get up and face the others, “But I don’t want to stop cuddling with you and I don’t want to see the others and have them tell me how stupid I've been for going out with Chad.” 

After Paige had told Walter what had happened, she had been afraid he would get angry at her for dating someone else, or think her stupid, but he had just held her and told her that it wasn’t her fault. 

He had even offered to go online and delete the guy’s identity, but she wasn’t quite sure she really wanted that. 

If he had no identity, he could not be prosecuted for what he had done to her - or would do to someone else. He had tried it with her, Paige was sure he would try violating a woman again. If she even was his first victim. 

She was not going to complain if additionally to having charges pressed against him for assaulting her, Chad would mysteriously find himself on the IRA’s list for a particularly extensive tax audit. 

“They won’t do that!” Walter shook his head slightly. “Happy will most likely offer to hit him repeatedly with her sledgehammer and Sylvester will offer you his services as an attorney. If there still needs to be a trial after Cabe gets his hands on the guy and Toby has called in some favours with his former gambling contacts.”

Paige chuckled. “Okay, I admit I know they wouldn’t tell me I’m stupid, but it felt good to hear you point it out. I’ll need a moment to get ready mentally, though. How about you get ready first, then I’ll take a shower and head downstairs a bit later.” 

“You can’t…” Walter started, then noticed Paige’s quizzical look. “Take a shower I mean. If you want to press charges, you need to be processed for evidence.”

Paige’s face darkened for a moment. 

“As much as I just want to just forget about this, I don’t want him to get away with it and do it to someone else. Can I at least wash my face? I look horrible! I am amazed you’ve taken me back, looking like that.” 

Walter chuckled, recognising Paige’s attempt at lightening the mood. 

“If he didn’t touch your face, then you should be okay to wash it, but not the parts of your body he touched.” It was Walter’s turn to wear a sour expression at the thought of someone touching Paige against her will. 

“I’ll call Cabe and ask him if he wants to handle this as a Homeland matter or if he wants to involve LAPD. He’s been long enough in Los Angeles to form connections there.”

Paige nodded her agreement. 

“If it’s okay for you, I’ll take the bathroom first.” Walter suggested. “I have to admit I have been having the urge to go for a while now.” 

Paige’s eyes grew wide. “Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“I didn’t want to get up either.” Walter admitted as he got up and walked toward the bathroom. 

As he looked back, he saw Paige sink back into the mattress with a soft smile on her face.

Paige waited until Walter had closed the door behind him before she buried her face in his pillow and inhaled his lingering scent deeply. 

Even though she felt anxious at the prospect of being processed for evidence within the next few hours, she also felt content at being back where she felt she belonged. 

xxxXXXxxx

Paige heard Walter talking on the phone outside the bathroom. He was giving Cabe a rough run down of what had happened, but seemed to be hovering near the door.

Paige had just finished scrubbing her face clean of the previous night’s makeup and was reaching for the little basket Walter had used to collect all the make-up products she had left behind when she had walked out of the garage several weeks ago. 

She hadn’t been able to bring herself to go to the garage and collect her products, as well as the change of clothes she had had in Walter’s closet. 

Now she was thankful for the items.

Walter had given her a clean paper bag to put last night’s clothes into so the traces Chad had left on them could be preserved - if there still was anything left after she had slept in them. 

A soft knock made her jump slightly. 

She opened the door and looked expectantly at Walter.

“Cabe is going to be here any minute. He has a friend with the Special Crimes Unit at LAPD he’s going to contact. Since you are currently not a member of Scorpion he can’t handle it as a Homeland matter.” 

Paige nodded her understanding, trying not to show the small stab at the mention of her current status of not being a member of Scorpion. In her happiness of being back with Walter, she had completely blocked that fact out of her mind. 

“I’ll be ready in a bit, how about you go on downstairs and I’ll follow in a few?” 

“I can wait for you.” Walter offered. 

“No, I need a moment alone to collect myself before I face everyone.” 

“I could go and prepare some coffee for you. I’m sure the others will also appreciate a mug.” 

Paige chuckled. “With cinnamon? I’m pretty sure they won’t.” She paused for a moment. “But don’t let that stop you from putting cinnamon in my coffee.”   
“Knowing Toby he probably already raided my fridge and the coffee machine.” 

“I’m pretty sure he did!” Paige agreed. “They’ll probably ask you what happened to me when you get down there…”

“You want me to stall them?” Walter asked. 

Paige shook her head. “No, actually I would be grateful if you would give them a shortened version of what I told you? They don’t need to know more than that and it’s bad enough I will have to recount everything to LADP…” Paige shuddered. 

Chad hadn’t been able to go through with his intentions, but the thought of how close she had come to being raped brought a new wave of nausea. If she hadn’t been able to kick him at the last moment… Her mind brought up the memory of how his hands had felt on her body and she felt the sudden urge to scrub herself raw under the shower. 

Walter picked up on Paige’s distress. 

“Paige, are you… what can I do?” Worry was written all over his face. 

Paige snapped out of her memory at Walter’s words. 

“I’m… I’ll be fine.” She swallowed. “Once the LAPD has taken my statement and I can take a shower I will feel better.” She paused for a moment then grinned as she stepped towards Walter “Especially when everyone else is gone and my boyfriend kisses me better!”

She quickly stole a kiss from Walter’s lips, then pushed him away from her before she could give in to her urge to pull Walter into the bathroom and have him touch her where Chad had touched so she could overwrite the memory of his touch with Walter’s. 

She knew that wouldn’t be fair to Walter and it would most likely not erase what had happened from her memory. It would be a temporary fix that would fade all too quickly. 

“And now I need a moment to myself and you will fulfil your boyfriend duties and play buffer between myself and the bunch of worried geniuses downstairs.” 

xxxXXXxxx

The sound of a hammer hitting metal became louder as Walter walked towards the door to the loft and the volume increased again as he opened the door and stood at the top of the stairs for a second. 

It was fascinating how Happy’s hammering could indicate her emotional state. And right now she was pissed off. Worried and pissed off to be exact. 

The sound suddenly cut off as the former Scorpion members noticed Walter coming down the stairs. 

As if summoned by a silent call, they assembled in the middle of the garage, looking at Walter expectantly as soon as it was clear he was descending the stairs alone.   
“Where’s Paige?” Happy asked, worry written on her face.

She normally wasn’t very expressive about it, but she did care a lot about her friend. 

“Paige is still upstairs. She said she needed a moment to compose herself.” Walter looked at none of them in general. “She also asked me to brief you on what has happened last night, so she won’t have to recount it over and over again.” 

The little group of geniuses looked at him expectantly, not making any move to let Walter walk away from the stairs before he had informed them. 

Walter swallowed. “I’d like to wait for Cabe, though, he’s on his way.”

“I’m already here, kid!” Cabe slowly strode out of the kitchen area, holding his mug in his hand. “I made some coffee for everyone and put on a fresh pot with cinnamon for Paige.” 

Walter smiled. “Thank you, Cabe, I was actually planning on doing just that. Did you get in touch with your LAPD friend yet?” 

“She’ll be over with a CSI in about an hour.” Cabe took a sip of his coffee. “Now tell us what happened to our girl!” 

Walter ran a hand though his hair, then gave them a shortened rundown of what Paige had told him about the previous nights events. 

Happy grinned with satisfaction as Walter came to the point where Paige had managed to knee her attacker in the groin, then punch him.  
“No wonder she doesn’t want to have to repeat that over and over again.” Sylvester looked like he was about to cry.   
“I am thankful she managed to fend that bastard off!” Toby said, his usual flippant comments gone for the moment, replaced by an uncharacteristically somber behaviour. “Even though he has not been able to go through with raping her, having come that close can still have a huge emotional impact on her. That is also the reason why she sought out the one place she had always felt safest at.” 

“I would have thought that would be her home?” Sylvester scrunched up his face in confusion. 

Toby shook his head. “While she normally feels safe in her own home, there is one place and one person she will always feel safest with.” His eyes wandered to Walter. “You may have messed up big time when you withheld going to that stupid lecture with Florence, but deep down Paige knows that you will always do everything to keep her safe. That’s what you have repeatedly told her and more importantly, shown her several times - actions speak louder than words, even if it takes something bad happening to remind us.” 

Cabe nodded his agreement as he took another sip of his coffee. 

Before Walter could respond to Toby’s assessment, the door to the loft opened and Paige stepped out. 

All eyes were on her as she descended the stairs, her eyes cast down, not looking at any of them as she felt uncomfortably self-conscious with all their eyes on her. 

Just as she reached the stairs, Sylvester surged forward and took Paige into a bear hug.   
“I’m so sorry, Paige!” He said gently. 

Paige leaned into Sylvester’s embrace, then was surprised when the human calculator stepped back and one by one Happy, Toby and Cabe each stepped up to hug her silently.

The former waitress smiled thankfully into the round, then smiled even wider as Ralph hugged her as well. It was something her son hadn’t done since he had learned about the breakup and the way she had lashed out at Walter. 

Her son had been beyond furious when he head learned that she wanted to go out with someone new instead of talking to Walter like he had been hoping for the past weeks. 

Once Ralph let go of her, Paige stepped forward and sought out Walter, who quickly laid an arm around her and hugged her to his side. 

The room filled with awkward silence for a moment. The team wasn’t sure on how to address the elephant in the room and Paige didn’t feel like touching the topic before she had to either. 

Ralph quickly walked into the kitchen, then returned with a mug of coffee for his mother. 

Paige thankfully accepted the mug, then smiled as the scent of cinnamon tickled her nose. 

“Thank you, Ralph!” She looked at Walter. “Do you have anything we can have for breakfast down here?” 

“There’s only a carton of milk and some weird leftovers in the fridge!” Toby announced. 

Paige and Walter looked at each other and grinned. 

Cabe screwed up his face. “That’s Florence’s preservative experiment. I let her have the leftovers from Allie’s last tofu pasta to use it on. It’s been sitting for the past three weeks. She said it’s not ready for consumption yet, but I’m sure she’s interested to know if it affects the taste.” 

“Didn’t you hear of labelling experiments?” Toby started to gag and ran to the bathroom. A few seconds later they heard retching. 

A satisfied grin spread across Cabe’s face at the sound. 

“There is no preservative experiment, is there?” Happy asked amused. 

Cabe only grinned wider.   
“Serves the idiot right!” Happy shook her head. “Perhaps he finally learns not to steal other people’s food.” 

“We got breakfast on the way over - even if you would have anything remotely decent for breakfast, we figured you wouldn’t have enough for all of us.” Sylvester motioned towards the kitchen, barely containing his glee at Toby’s predicament. 

The behaviourist had made a sport out of stealing Sylvester’s lunches from the office fridge, leaving Sylvester satisfied that karma finally had run it’s course.

“Great!” Paige exclaimed, then turned and hurried into the kitchen area where she immediately busied herself going through the bags sitting on the table, fixing plates for everyone. 

Toby, freshly emerged from the bathroom, watched her for a few seconds as she pored over her task with unnecessary intensity, brusquely waving away Happy as she tried to help her.  
“Walter, I hope you have something you can keep her busy with until Cabe’s acquaintance and their CSI entourage arrives or she’ll be either rearranging the garage or scale the walls until they are here.” 

Walter looked at him quizzically, then barely managed to take hold of the plate Paige pushed at him before she breezed back into the kitchen to get the next set of plates. 

Toby waited until she was out of earshot before he added. “She’s trying to keep her mind off of last nights events by concentrating on manual tasks.” 

Once she had distributed the food the others had brought, she sat back down on the couch and looked at Walter expectantly. 

Walter quickly sat down next to her before anyone else could claim the space. A moment later Ralph plopped down on Walter’s other side and dug into his breakfast. 

Toby sat down on the armchair next to the couch as Cabe sat down at the table in the center of the room, with Happy and Sylvester joining him. 

They ate for a while in silence, until Paige suddenly frowned. 

“How did you know I was here, anyway?” She asked, then her eyes narrowed and she glared at Ralph. “Did you trace my phone?” 

“I didn’t have to. Walter sent me a text last night that you were at the garage and we don’t have to worry.” Ralph informed her. 

“Thank you, Walter.” Paige smiled softly at him. “I was so out of it last night I completely forgot that I should let anyone know where I was.” 

“Yes, you should have!” Toby said sternly. “You could have been lying dead in a ditch and we wouldn’t have known it.” 

Ralph raised his eyebrow. “YOU didn’t know anything anyway until this morning!” He turned to his mother. “My oh so wonderful babysitters were both out cold at 10 last night - they didn’t even hear my phone when Walter sent his message. Since I knew you were safe and I thought it can only be good that you are at the garage, I’ve let them sleep until this morning.”

“We were worried when we woke up and discovered you hadn’t come home!” Toby said defensively. “Because Ralph didn’t tell us until he himself got up and we could ask him.” 

“You worried for all of two minutes, dufus!” Happy growled. “Ralph would have woken us up if it had been necessary.” 

Toby huffed dramatically. 

“See it as practice for your own kids.” Cabe aimed a grin at Toby. “No matter how young you adopt, they will eventually become a teenager, hit puberty and you might be in for a few worrisome nights while they break curfew without calling you.” 

A low growl escaped Happy’s throat.   
“I already feel sorry for that poor kid.” Sylvester eyed Happy carefully. 

He wouldn’t want to be a defiant teenager facing Happy’s motherly wrath. 

Walter watched his former team silently. He hadn’t thought he would ever admit such a thing, even to himself, but he had missed their banter and bickering.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cabe's contact from LAPD arrives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone for sticking with this story. I really enjoy writing it and am very pleased that I had some time during my vacation in September to advance it and reduce posting time between some chapters. We still have a few to go - I currently have 8 chapters drafted with the last one not being completed yet, so I can’t say if that is the final one yet.

Chapter 6: 

After breakfast, Paige was getting restless.

She abruptly got up, collected the empty dishes and carried them into the kitchen.  
Instead of loading the dishwasher, she filled the sink with water and dish soap and started to clean the dishes by hand.

Toby plopped down in the spot Paige had just vacated and nudged Walter, then nodded towards the kitchen.

“I’ve watched you two, not only upstairs.” He said softly, careful to not let his voice carry towards the kitchen. “She’s remarkably physical with you considering what almost happened. You need to be careful. She subconsciously knows she only needs to say stop and you will back up. As she processes what happened, she might suddenly feel averse to touch, seemingly out of nowhere, even while you are in the middle of something. It can happen like turning a switch. When that happens, you need to comply instantly and stop whatever it is you are doing, otherwise it might damage the trust she has in you and that might not be good for your rekindled relationship.” 

“How did…” 

“Come on, 197, Paige has been practically attached to your side. But don’t worry. It wasn’t Chad’s attack that drove her back to you. That creep only sped things up. But perhaps you should head over there before she scrubs a hole into that plate.” 

Walter quickly rose and headed into he kitchen.

“We have a dishwasher, you know.” He said softly. 

“It’s just a few dishes, no need to run the dish washer.” Paige scrubbed the plate in her hands with more force than necessary.  
Walter watched her for a second, then grabbed a towel and helped her. 

Toby had been right earlier. Paige was busying herself to take her mind off of the pending statement to the LAPD officer they were expecting and probably more importantly being examined for trace evidence. 

Walter knew that it was unavoidable to get the necessary evidence so Paige could press charges against Chad. If there was no camera footage that caught him dragging Paige into the alley, it was her word against his. 

The thought of a Crime Scene Investigator prodding and probing Paige, taking photos of her bruises and collecting evidence from her body made Walter feel uneasy - he was sure Paige felt even worse. And she would have to recount the previous night’s events again. 

Once the dishes were done, Paige accompanied Walter out of the kitchen and was zoning in on her former desk, eyeing the stack of paper files that rested there with determination.

Before she could reach her desk, the garage door opened after a sharp knock and two women entered the garage. 

One of them wore a dark blue west with a name tag, identifying her as C. Baker. She had her blonde hair tied in a pony tail and didn’t look much older than Sylvester. She carried a black tool box in her left hand. 

The middle aged woman accompanying her wore grey pants and a dark red shirt underneath a grey blazer matching her pants. She wore her light brown hair pulled back into a bun. 

Combined with the appearance of her partner, it was obvious she was Cabe’s friend from LAPD. 

“Barbara!” Cabe stood as he greeted the middle aged woman with a hand shake.  
“Cabe!” She nodded.

“This is Detective Barbara Krueger from LAPD.” Cabe introduced her. 

“Barbara, this is the group of geniuses I have told you about.” The fatherly pride was thick in his voice. 

“Nice to meet you!” Detective Krueger nodded towards the group. “I am from LAPD’s Special Crimes Unit. This,” she pointed to her companion, “is CSI Carol Baker. I understand you all know why we are here.” 

The group nodded and glances were thrown in Paige’s direction. 

Paige started to fidget nervously. “This is Paige,” Cabe spoke up again. “She is the reason I called you. She was attacked last night.” 

Detective Krueger nodded and smiled warmly at Paige. “Is there a place where we can talk with her undisturbed? Even if you all know what happened, it would be best if we could have some privacy.” 

Walter nodded. “You can use my loft.” He pointed towards the stairs. 

“That should work.” The LADP Detective nodded, then motioned for Paige to lead the way. 

Paige nervously wiped her hands on her skirt as she started to walk towards the stairs. 

As she passed Walter, she took his hand and pulled him with her wordlessly, her eyes wide as she looked at him with a silent plea to accompany her. 

The two law enforcement officers noticed Paige’s obvious need for emotional support and didn’t comment on it.  
If the victim chose that man for support, they were not going to deny her. 

The followed the couple with Cabe trailing behind, giving the others a stern look.  
“You stay down here and I better not find out anyone switched on the comm system.” His eyes fixed on Toby for a second before he turned and followed the others upstairs. 

The four geniuses left behind stood in silence. Neither of them felt like saying anything, aware that their friend was upstairs to be questioned and examined about the attempted sexual assault on her. 

There were quips on Toby’s tongue, but given the situation, they were stuck in his throat. Even he had topics he would not make fun of. 

The team had had some close calls in the past, but sexual assault was a whole other thing and Toby could only hope the psychological backlash didn’t do further damage. 

He was well aware that many women had problems accepting being touched even by year long partners after such an assault. 

Paige had been practically glued to Walter. They had found her snuggled up against the man in his bed. But that didn’t mean that Paige was not going to have phases during which she would become averse to even Walter’s touch. He hoped that Walter wouldn’t mess up in such a moment. 

Walter and Paige being a couple again was an important step to reuniting Scorpion - and reuniting Scorpion was the key to Toby’s own family planning. 

After Scorpion’s implosion, Happy had put their freshly developed adoption plans on hold and with every day and every event that had put them further away from reuniting their cyclone, Happy’s mood had decreased. 

Toby was determined to be the perfectly supporting friend for Paige and Walter’s relationship this time. And it would start with helping them nail the guy that hurt Paige to give her at least closure on that front. 

He turned to the other with determination. “Okay guys, time for some Scorpion magic!” 

xxxXXXxxx

Upstairs, Paige and Walter led the two investigators to the couch.

Paige sat down and Walter took his seat next to her. She immediately leaned against him for support. 

“Ms. Dineen, first, I will question you about what happened last night and then Carol will try to collect evidence from you. Are you okay with Cabe being present?” Detective Krueger asked.

Paige nodded her agreement.

Cabe was like a father figure to her, even though she had not seen him the past weeks. She could not blame him for sticking with Walter. 

With her father figure and the love of her live by her side, she felt sure she would be able to get through this part.

“Good. Are these the clothes you wore last night?” Barbara asked. 

“No, I still had this set of clothes stashed here. Walter gave me an unused bag for the clothes I wore last night because we figured you would need them. They are in the bedroom on Walter’s desk.” 

“I’ll get them!” Cabe offered in a low voice and silently moved around the loft space to retrieve the bag. 

A moment later he handed the bag which Walter had taped closed to secure the contents from further contamination to CSI Baker.

The young CSI took the bag and nodded her approval. She added a label and logged the clothes as evidence, then initialed on the label before placing it in a box. 

While Cabe had retrieved the bag, Paige had given Detective Krueger her personal information and had started to recount the events of the previous night. 

The two investigators listened in silence as Paige spoke, Walter had his arm around her shoulder, his fingers stroking her arm softly. 

Detective Krueger could see his jaw clench in anger as Paige recounted the attack. 

The tension only left his features as Paige concluded her recount with kneeing Chad where it hurt most, followed by a swift punch and running out of the alley. 

“And then you came straight here?” The Detective asked. 

“Yes, I had ordered the taxi via the app while I was heading outside and the next available cab was only a few minutes out.” 

“Do I understand correctly that Mr. O’Brien is your partner? Then why were you on a date with another man last night.” 

Paige sighed deeply. “Walter and I broke up a few weeks ago. We had a stupid fight and I walked out. After what happened last night… I … I just… I needed Walter to hold me. He’s always kept me safe. Despite all the crazy jobs we had for Homeland or private clients. Walter has always made sure I was safe. He would never let anything happen to me and I… I was so stupid to let something so stupid get between us….” 

Detective Krueger placed her hand gently on Paige’s knee. 

“Ms, Dineen, it’s alright. I am not judging you. I am only trying to clarify the facts. And you are not stupid. Your emotions are valid! Whatever happened between you two that made you break up, your emotions back then were valid just as you two reconsidering and getting back together now is valid now. Also no matter your past or present relationship status with Mr. O’Brien, this man had no right to assault you.” 

Paige gave her a sad smile. “Thank you. I realise I should have called the police right away…” 

The Detective smiled, “Don’t worry. A lot of women do not come forward about being sexually assaulted right away, or at all. Even with a night in between, you would be surprised the amount of evidence a good CSI can still collect. Though of course the fresher and less compromised the better.” 

She had a few more questions for her, which Paige answered with increasing calmness.  
Barbara Krueger's gentle questioning put her at ease, aided by the presence of Walter at her side and the knowledge that Cabe would step in and put an end to the questioning if it got too much for her. 

Finally the investigator was satisfied and nodded towards her colleague. “CSI Baker will now take pictures of your bruises and process you for evidence.” 

The young woman smiled as she took a thin wooden stick and a tiny brown envelope from her tool box.  
“I am starting with collecting under your fingernails.” She explained as she sat on a small stool opposite of Paige. “As you tried to fight him off, there might still be skin cells under your nails.” 

Paige’s eyes grew wide. “I washed my face earlier! I hadn’t considered that I might destroy evidence if I just washed my face where he didn’t touch me, but I forgot to think about anything under my nails.” 

Next to her she felt Walter stiffen - after all he had encouraged her to wash her face and not thought about the possible evidence under her fingernails as well. She was sure he was already mentally flogging himself for it.

“It’s not ideal, but as long as you didn’t specifically scrub under your fingernails, we might still be able to find traces.” CSI Baker reassured her. 

She gently scratched under each of Paige’s fingernails, holding the envelope underneath each finger as she worked on it. Before she closed the envelope, she added the small stick into it. 

She quickly labeled the envelope and added it to her box. 

“Now I would like to take photos of the bruises on your neck.” The CSI lifted a camera out of her box. “I have a special filter that will augment the bruises so we can properly photograph and examine them.” 

Paige opened the collar of her blouse so Carol could get the bruises fully onto the pictures. 

The young CSI snapped several pictures from different angles before setting down her digital camera. 

Next she unpacked a clear strip of thick tape. 

“You have been assaulted several hours ago, therefore it is not very likely that we will be able to lift prints from your neck or breast, but we have had luck with even smaller chances in the past, so I would like to at least try. Since you said he didn’t wear gloves, we can still work with any DNA traces he has left on you.” 

She smiled sympathetically as she saw Paige’s face. She had yet to be long enough on the job to be able to emotionally disconnect from such cases. She was still not sure if that was good or bad. Some of her colleagues thought it was best to remain emotionally disconnected from the victims, while others thought the moment she stopped sympathising was the moment she should quit. 

She assumed the truth lay somewhere in the middle. 

Paige sighed deeply and started to unbutton her blouse to expose her breasts. The mere thought of Chad’s DNA on her skin made the spots he had touched crawl. She would take the longest shower of her life once this was over.

Cabe politely turned his back to them, while Walter remained more or less motionless.

Once Paige had finished with her blouse, her hand instinctively sought Walter’s hands and their fingers interlaced. 

Both investigators could see the man’s fingers flex hesitantly before his thumb softly started to stroke Paige’s hand where it rested. 

Walter was looking into Paige’s eyes as she turned her head towards him to give the CSI better access to the biggest part of the bruise on her neck. 

Paige’s boyfriend seemed to be socially awkward, but he was engaging with Paige in his own way and Paige was responding well to it. She fixed her eyes on his and they held each other’s gaze as Paige avoided watching the woman in front of her do her thing. 

She had seen it often enough in other victims. They already had to feel her touch them where they had been hurt, they didn’t need to watch her do it. 

It didn’t matter that Paige had managed to fend off her attacker and get away before the worst had happened. The fact remained that if she had lost consciousness before she had managed to free herself, she could have been raped and injured - or even worse, killed. 

CSI Baker was determined to do her best to ensure the bastard was caught and punished - preferably before he attacked the next woman. 

Once she was finished, Paige visibly relaxed further. 

CSI Baker packed away the last evidence bag she had just closed, then took out a small tube. 

“Ms. Dineen, I am finished with you.” She smiled at her softly again, then turned to Walter. “Mr. O’Brien, I need a sample of your DNA so we can dismiss the traces that came from you.” 

xxxXXXxxx

Four sets of eyes looked at them as they descended the stairs.  
First the two investigators, followed by Paige and Walter and then Cabe. 

Once the stairs were cleared, Walter breezed past the two women, concern on his face.  
“Sylvester, have you checked Lombardi’s surroundings for footage of Paige and this ‘Chad’? Detective Krueger called LAPD to have him picked up, but it turns out there is no Chad Cunningham registered anywhere in the Los Angeles area. He told Paige he had been living in LA for a couple of years.” 

As he spoke, Paige caught up with him and stood close to him, seeking his proximity. 

“A fake name then.” Sylvester frowned. “Of course we already checked, but there are no proper camera angles that point towards Lombardi’s,” Sylvester hit a few keys on his laptop, then looked at them all. “Is everyone familiar with the Show Mystery Diners that ran until 2016?”

Walter frowned, but before he could say something he would later regret, Sylvester continued to talk. 

“The Show is being revived and we are lucky, they were shooting at Lombardi’s this week. When we couldn’t find any decent camera angles, Ralph suggested calling Lombardi’s if they by any chance have closed circuit cameras inside the restaurant and the owner told me about the hidden cameras they had installed for the show.” 

Sylvester turned his laptop around. “They sent the footage to us and they will also send a copy directly to LAPD, Detective Krueger, if you give us an email address to provide the footage to.” His eyes flitted to Cabe and Walter. “I hope it’s okay that I claimed to still work for Scorpion and that this is a Homeland case.” 

Cabe nodded. “I have no problem with it.” 

“We will send an official inquiry to Lombardi’s for the footage.” Detective Krueger said. “We would have questioned the staff at Lombardi’s anyway and would have received knowledge of the footage that way.” She smiled at Sylvester. “I am not disapproving, I am just explaining the official protocol that has to be followed. We don’t want that dirtbag to get off on a technicality, do we, Alderman Dodd?” 

Sylvester looked at her with wide eyes. “You know who I am?” 

Barbara chuckled. “I voted for you. I have lived in West Altadena for the past twenty years.” 

Sylvester nodded. “Thank you. And I understand. I’m a lawyer.” 

Ralph spoke up. “One of the cameras inside the restaurant is aimed at the table Mom and this… man… sat at. So we not only have a picture of his face, we also have the whole date on camera.” 

Paige blushed furiously. She sneaked a short glance at Walter and winced as she saw his jaw tightened while his eyes fixed on ‘Chad’s’ face. 

She quickly slid her hand in his again and squeezed until he tore his eyes off of the screen.  
The moment he looked at her face, the frown disappeared and he smiled lovingly at her. Paige squeezed his hand reassuringly again.  
She would have liked to kiss him right now, to remind him that she was his and he was hers again, but it felt inappropriate to kiss in front of everyone while staring at the restaurant footage of the man who had attacked her the previous night. 

“I have run a facial recognition software on the picture I took from the footage and we now know who he is.” Ralph stated without emotion, earning him a quizzical look from Detective Krueger. He found the boy oddly detached the way he was talking about the man who had attacked his mother. 

“His name is Edward Dillinger and he just moved to Pasadena.” 

“Pasadena!?” Paige frowned. “He told me he lives just a couple of blocks down from the grocery store.” 

“Fake name, fake address…” Detective Krueger murmured. “That doesn’t sound like someone who snapped because his date didn’t go as he hoped.” 

Her eyes hardened as she turned to look at Paige. 

“That scumbag targeted you.” Her jaw tightened. “And it sounds quite familiar.”  
She pulled out a small tablet and started to tap on it for a moment. 

Then she exhaled sharply. “It looks like you just helped me identify a serial killer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors note: 
> 
> I am so sorry, the story just took a turn of it’s own… I initially truly intended to have Walter and Sylvester re-bond over making Chad’s life hell like putting him on the IRS’s crap list or other niceties they could bestow upon him with their computer skills - but the story decided it wanted to add another element…


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that they know who they are up against, Scorpion is taking action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to update this time. I had originally planned to update a lot sooner, but somehow time seems to have rushed away from me… 
> 
> To make up for it, we have a special guest from another popular show in this chapter - I hope you enjoy her short visit & the little gift she has for our geniuses.   
> Our special guest belongs to another well-known CBS / ViacomCBS show and I am only borrowing her for some private fun without making any profit from it.   
> For the sake of surprise I will leave her unnamed up here in the Chapter notes - but she is part of the main cast of the show she belongs to, so when you see her, you will know her. 
> 
> The only characters I actually own in this story are Detective Krueger, CSI Baker and the serial killer.

Dating Disaster Chapter 7

Then she exhaled sharply. “It looks like you just helped me identify a serial killer.” 

xxxXXXxxx

Detective Krueger turned her tablet around and showed them a sketch that looked like Chad Cunningham, alias Edward Dillinger, even though it was a crude drawing.

“The police forces of three states as well as the FBI have been looking for this man for the past four years. He has raped and killed nineteen women in Washington, Oregon and Northern California and apparently he has made his way down to Los Angeles now.” 

“Oh boy!” Sylvester mumbled as everyone looked at Paige with dread, realising just how close they had come to loosing Paige. 

All colour drained from Paige’s face at the new information. 

Nineteen women. Sheer luck had allowed her to escape a man who had violated and killed nineteen women and Paige would have been number twenty. 

Paige’s breathing accelerated and she could feel herself starting to tremble when she felt warm arms wrap around her. She quickly leaned into the embrace and pressed her face against Walter’s chest as shivers shook her body. 

Walter felt unsure on how to comfort Paige properly. He looked to Toby and Cabe with a questioning look.   
/Just hold her!/ both men mouthed at him simultaneously. Walter nodded and tightened his arms around Paige a bit more. He inwardly sighed with relief as his action was rewarded with her snuggling closer against him. 

The detective watched as Paige sought comfort from Walter. 

“The media have dubbed him the First Date Killer.” She said, causing Cabe to nod.   
“That sounds familiar.” Cabe realized. “There has been a briefing at Homeland back when the FBI finally got involved and shared their profile across agencies. The FBI’s BAU team was called in after the eleventh murder, the third known victim in Oregon. It took a while to realise that there was a serial killer on the loose due the First Date Killer only striking once in one area before moving on and the long time periods and distance in-between the homicides. He also hasn’t moved down towards Los Angeles in a straight line, but gone back and forth within each state before moving on to the next. There was no visible pattern to follow and identify the actual direction he has been heading.” 

“For the same reason he didn’t get as much media attention as serial killers hitting several times in the same area or city.” Detective Krueger took over. “Basically all they had so far was this admittedly not very good sketch and the profile they made based on witness statements and statements from families and friends.”

She laughed without humour. “I can’t believe that a show like Mystery Diners being revived gives us his identity.”

She looked at Ralph and Sylvester. “Unfortunately the sketch was not good enough to identify him via database searches. In what database did you find him?” 

“The DMV!” Ralph supplied. 

Barbara barked out another laugh. “That scumbag escapes identification for almost four years and then gets caught because he registered at the DMV like a good citizen?” 

“Of course.” Toby nodded. “He escapes identification by playing by the rules in the rest of his life. An out of state licence plate or drivers license is much more memorable than a local one. A lot of people would dismiss him as a criminal going through several states if he appears local.” He looked at Paige. “I am sure he also emulated a local dialect and speech patterns.” 

Paige nodded. “He did. Now that I think about it, I couldn’t exactly pinpoint which region, but he did sound like what one would consider typically Californian.” 

Toby looked pleased with his own deduction. “Of course he kept it undefined, but familiar enough to sound local, lull his victims into a false sense of familiarity and security. It also allows him to move through a state with a minimum of effort, instead of emulating the exact dialect of each area he hunts in, he just covers the whole state at once. That combined with only hitting once in a police jurisdiction and maybe skipping a few in-between, plus hunting with a bit of a downtime, he can stay securely in one state for a while before he has to move on.” 

“But Mom escaping him must have spooked him.” Ralph pointed out. “He’s probably not going to stay in California much longer. He has to assume that Mom might decide to go to the police. A victim that fights back effectively is also very likely to go to the police.” 

“We can’t let him get away again!” Detective Krueger was alarmed and a bit embarrassed that she needed a thirteen year old to point out the flight risk. 

“I’ll call Homeland.” Cabe said, his phone already in his hand. “He has attacked a private contractor of Homeland, that’s reason enough to get involved, let alone the fact that several agencies are on the lookout for that pervert.” 

“Well, technically Paige isn’t a contractor of Homeland anymore!” Sylvester pointed out, but immediately regretted his words at the twin glares of Walter and Cabe aimed his way. 

“Okay, not the time to point out facts, understood!” Sylvester quickly back pedalled. 

“And I’m calling my boss so he can reach out to the FBI that we have the identity of the First Date Killer.” Detective Krueger ignored the little exchange before her. 

All that mattered was that they were close to catching that bastard. She couldn’t believe that this case, a case she had only been heading out for at the request of her old friend Cabe, might lead to catching a serial killer. 

She had thought she was heading out to a simple case of date gone wrong, but instead she had found a long searched for serial killer and his identity had been presented to her on a silver platter. 

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Cabe Gallo was no ordinary man - and he sure had some more than ordinary friends. The teenager alone had just accomplished what several agencies had failed to do for a long time.

xxxXXXxxx

A few hours later: 

Cabe sauntered into the garage, the satisfied look of a case having a happy end on his face. 

He didn’t need to tell the assembled geniuses that the squad team Homeland had dispatched at his phone call had arrested the First Date Killer an hour ago. 

They had been following the chase and subsequent arrest live via the comm in Cabe’s ear and knowing his chosen family, they had hacked into the body cams of one of the the police officers on the scene. 

While Cabe and Detective Krueger had called their bosses, Ralph and Sylvester had hacked the traffic cameras surrounding Dillinger’s apartment and followed his path out of town. 

Just as Ralph had feared, the man had packed up his things and hit the road around the time Paige had sat upstairs with Walter and given her statement to Barbara. 

As a Homeland team set out, accompanied by Cabe who wanted to catch the scumbag who had hurt his surrogate daughter, personally, Ralph and Sylvester had followed him via the traffic cameras and security cameras along the route. Ralph had hacked into them at amazing speed, his face fixed on the screen with an almost scary look of determination.   
That man had almost raped and killed his mother. There was no other outcome than him being taken down as long as Ralph had his hands on the keyboard. 

Uncharacteristically for him, Walter had stayed in the background, contenting himself with holding Paige and comforting her as he watched Ralph with growing pride. 

Walter had remained ready to jump into action if need be, but there was no necessity for Walter to get his hands even near the keyboard. Ralph more than had this covered.

Just before he was leaving the greater Los Angeles area, Dillinger had made the mistake of deciding to switch cars.   
Using a fake identity, he had rented a car at a rental car firm. 

A dark grin had appeared on Ralph’s face as he hacked the rental firm’s records and announced with barely hidden glee that the car Dillinger had rented was equipped with a UConnect System.

He waited until Dillinger was on a strip of highway the highway police had closed off on Homeland’s order and Homeland and LAPD had caught up, then took over the control of the car he had already hacked into minutes after Dillinger had driven it off the rental car agency’s parking lot.

He first slowed it down until he was sure Dillinger would not get killed, then stopped the car abruptly, causing the air bag to go off and knock Dillinger out as his head impacted with it. 

Dazed, but not fully knocked out, Dillinger had easily been pulled from his rental car, unable to put up much resistance.   
Cabe hand’t seen any reason for undue care, though, and the team had been treated to the satisfying sight of Dillinger being slammed down hard on the hood of the car as Cabe and Detective Krueger slapped cuffs on him, then handed him over to two agents to take him into a cell.

xxxXXXxxx

Cabe’s satisfied grin turned into a curious look as he noticed the reunited team gathered in front of the monitor on Walter’s desk. 

“…I can’t believe you caught the First Date Killer, WOB! Do you have any idea how long we have been trying to catch that pervert? No! Don’t answer that! It’s enough that our own resident genius will tell me down to the minute later.” 

Cabe had reached Walter’s desk in the midst of the rapid speech and peered over Toby’s shoulder. Now he was finally able to see the owner of the voice. 

For a second, he had doubts if his mind was able to process the visual overload he saw on the screen. He wasn’t sure what was worse - the very colourful woman or her equally colourful and excessively decorated surroundings, contrasting with the otherwise darkened background of the room she was in. She was obviously sitting in front of a computer screen, her image transmitted via webcam. She was leaning towards the screen and her cheeks were slightly flushed with excitement. 

She quickly snapped her eyes upwards to look at Cabe. “Oh… hello…Sir!” She obviously reacted to his suit and the way he was holding himself, screaming Law Enforcement. 

“Penelope, this is Cabe Gallo.” Sylvester motioned to Cabe as if the woman on the other side hadn’t already noticed Cabe. “He is our Homeland Handler. Cabe, this is Penelope Garcia. She’s the BAU’s technical analyst. She’s been following the chase and arrest online and will report back to her team how you caught Dillinger.” 

“Nice to meet you.” Cabe gave her a nod. 

Her appearance was unique, but Cabe had long ago learned not to judge a book by it’s cover. She seemed to know Walter and also at least Sylvester. 

Sylvester’s voice had sounded affectionate during the introduction, so Cabe made the educated guess that they were acquaintances. Judging by her job, probably a fellow hacker. 

He knew the FBI liked to recruit hackers in an attempt to get at them from the inside. Seeing the urgent nature of the kind of cases the BAU handled, them having their very own hacker made sense. 

“The honour is all mine, Mr. Gallo, Sir!” Garcia beamed brightly at him. “I heard you were at the front line catching the First Date Killer. Thank you! He has been a thorn in our side for a while now.”

Cabe grinned darkly. “It has been a personal pleasure!” His eyes flitted over to Paige, who was leaning comfortably against Walter. The tension of the past hours seemed to have dropped off of her. Her attacker had been caught, now she could move on to enjoy her newly reunited relationship with Walter. 

Cabe frowned as Garcia hit a few keys on her keyboard, then looked up at them again. 

“You helped us, but I can also help you!” She suddenly seemed more serious. 

“Walter, I ran the checks you asked me in your letter. Very bland letter, by the way, you could have at least invested in some washi tape - touch it up a bit, you know - humour a girl a bit if you’re asking for favours from her?” 

Toby snorted at the mental image of Walter decorating letters with colourful tape. 

“Anyway. I have traced the outside access to your security cameras and traced it back to the source. I am sending the coordinates to you, but right at this moment, an FBI team is swooping down on Mark Collins’s hideout. I have verified that he’s been on site - he has been very interested in what has been going on in your building in the past few hours. At the moment he’s distracted by a little power outage in the three blocks around his hide out, so he hasn’t been able to listen in on the last three minutes of our conversation.” 

The smug grin on her face left no doubt how that power outage had come to pass. 

“Oh - and I could not resist to add a little bonus…” her grin turned into one of evil glee. “I don’t like it when my second and third favourite geniuses get messed with - not by evil geniuses and not by evil non-geniuses. Agent Gallo, I believe you will soon get ani important call.” 

“Second and third?” Sylvester asked indignantly. 

“Sorry, El Guapo, but the first place of the genius ranking in my heart will always belong to Dr. Spencer Reid. And now you will have to excuse me, I have a team to debrief! Paige, please teach that lot the value of keeping in touch outside of imminent catastrophes. Don’t be strangers!” She waved at them before she hit a key. 

The screen went black and Cabe almost jumped when his phone rang.   
“What the…?” He looked at the others in bewilderment. 

“Pick it up!” Happy told him. “We’re as curious as you are!” 

Cabe shot her a mild glare while fishing his phone out of his pocket. 

The others watched him with keen interest, but his curt responses didn’t give any indication. 

“That was Homeland.” He looked at them, the confusion evident in his face.   
“I have been summoned to Headquarters - apparently the whole office is being summoned.” 

Chapter 7 End.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read so far. I hope you enjoyed the story. 
> 
> I already have the next one drafted - I hope I will be able to post the first chapter in about two weeks as the beginning of a month is always the busiest time in my work.

Chapter 8

Three hours later, Cabe strolled back into the garage, a relaxed smile on his face. 

Despite not knowing why Cabe had been summoned back to Homeland, the geniuses and Paige had started their victory celebration without him.

Two bags sporting Kowelsky’s logo sat on the table and everyone was busy devouring their respective choices. 

Paige and Walter were seated together on the couch, Paige almost in Walter’s lap, as she stabbed a piece of chicken from her salad onto her fork.

Cabe could smell Walter’s fermented fish from the door and wrinkled his nose in disgust. That was one smell hard to get used to. It baffled him how Paige could sit so close to that smell without gagging.

Toby and Happy were both holding cheese burger’s in their hands and each balanced a small carton of fries on their respective laps. Toby had learned the hard way just how ill-advised it was to try and steal his wife’s fries. 

Ralph sat his own burger down as Cabe stepped up to them. The teenager produced another tightly wrapped burger from the bag and tossed it at Cabe.

A pleased grin appeared on Cabe’s face as he caught the burger and the smell of the burger chased away the lingering smell of fermented fish, at least for the moment.  
“Kovelsky’s special burger, double beef and extra jalapeños!” Ralph informed him. 

Cabe nodded appreciatively at the choice as he sat down next to Sylvester who had a rice dish in his hands. 

Just as Cabe unwrapped his burger, the door to the garage opened and Florence awkwardly moved inside but stayed by the door as if she wanted to be able to quickly dive outside again. 

Cabe’s threw a quick glance in Paige’s direction and just as he expected, Paige tensed up as her eyes fixed on Florence. 

Florence gulped, aware of the glare aimed her way. She nervously shifted, simultaneously trying to avoid looking Paige in the eyes and keeping her in her sight for her own safety. 

“I… uh… Good Evening!” Florence said, her voice uncertain as every set of eyes in the garage landed on her. “I heard you through the vents and… I wondered if I could talk to Sylvester for a moment?” 

The question came out rushed as she mustered up all her courage. She felt uncomfortable under the undivided attention of the group. The last time she had been in the garage with them, words from her mouth had initiated the blowup of the team. 

She knew that wasn’t all that had led up to it, but it had felt like it to her when it happened.  
Her words had made an already tense situation even worse and things had escalated from there. Still she couldn’t help but wonder if their problems couldn’t have been resolved calmly if she had not opened her mouth the night. 

Sylvester looked at her with wide eyes for a second, then hurried to put down his food and stood up, almost tripping as Toby took his time pulling his legs out of Sylvester’s path. 

The assembled team watched Sylvester walk towards the blonde chemist, then lead her to the door. Once the pair was outside, their attention turned to Cabe. 

No one dared to mention the blonde chemist that had just stolen their human calculator. They had all noticed how Paige had tensed up and glared at her the moment she set foot into the garage. The former waitress had gone through enough since the previous night, none of them wanted to upset her without necessity. 

Toby would have loved to make a comment, but the only one who would not kick his butt for it had just vacated the garage together with Florence. 

Also curiosity was killing him when it came to Cabe and Homeland. Of course he had taken notice of Cabe’s body language as he entered the garage and he wanted to know if his theory was correct.   
“So, what did Homeland summon you for?” Toby voiced the question burning on their minds. “It can’t be anything bad, you are too relaxed for that. In fact I think you have very good news to share.” 

Cabe nodded, a smile forming on his lips.  
“That colour shock of a lady you talked to earlier, really left quite the gift. She’s a sneaky one. Apparently Mark Collins had footage from your security cameras on his computer and in order to provide evidence to Homeland that she had managed to locate the scumbag, she sent a few selected files to Carlson. One of them the footage of the day when he forced us into that baseball game. Too bad for Carlson, she also sent copies to his superiors.” 

The others looked at him with wide eyes. Toby chuckled with glee as he concluded what Cabe would tell them next.

“I take it, Carlson’s superiors where not amused?” Happy asked. 

“That’s putting it mildly.” Cabe’s smile turned into a smug grin. 

“Ms. Garcia already sent that file a few days ago and there have already been some hearings. Everything was hush hush considering Carlson’s position. To cut things short, all Agents were called in tonight to introduce our new director.” 

“That’s good for us, isn’t it?” Paige asked hopefully. 

“Remember when we caught that bio-hacker who tried to kill Governor Lane?” Cabe asked.   
“Of course, it was one of our first Homeland cases.” Walter replied immediately. 

“Newly appointed Director Margaret Rhodes is his sister-in-law.” Cabe informed them, “She is very interested in continuing Scorpion’s contract and she made it clear that she would prefer the original Scorpion and not Scorpion 2.0."

He paused, giving them a stern look. 

“She wants an answer by Monday morning.” He added before he turned his attention back to his burger. 

xxxXXXxxx

After dinner, Happy and Toby had been the first to leave, shortly followed by Cabe, who had offered Sylvester a ride home. 

“Alright, it’s late and time we head home!” Paige sighed, disentangling herself from Walter with a regretful look. “Ralph, grab your stuff.” She stood, then turned to Walter, who sat in his spot, a disappointed look on his face. 

“Do I have to order you around like a child, or will you grab your stuff on your own?” She asked with a mischievous smile. 

Walter’s face lit up at the prospect of going home with Paige. 

“Uh… Mom, I thought we could stay the night here?” Ralph piped up. “I haven’t been in the garage for weeks and I hoped Walter and I could use the weekend to work on a new project idea I had.” 

“Ralph, I don’t have a change of clothes and…” 

“I got you covered, Mom.” Ralph leaned back, a smug look on his face. “I’ve brought an overnight back for you and one for me, including some heavy duty ear plugs, though I will only use them under the condition that you will NOT tell me if their use was warranted or not.” 

“So, my genius son has already planned this out in advance and taken precautions?” Paige crossed her arms in front of her chest as if to confront her son, but her lips were twitching upwards in a fond smile. “Well, we can stay here in the garage tonight, but I do have a few conditions of my own.” 

xxxXXXxxx

“That was one of my best ideas.” Paige smiled happily as she leaned back against the cushion behind her back while Walter sat the tray with their breakfast aside. 

She had to admit, she had not expected Ralph to put together such a good breakfast. She had the sneaking suspicion he had had help, as she could not imagine Walter’s kitchen being well enough stocked for such a generous meal.

But considering the circumstances, Paige had decided to live in blissful ignorance. He had probably roped in the others and had one of them drop off the ingredients he had needed. 

All that mattered to Paige was that Ralph had treated them to the breakfast in bed she had requested the previous evening and Walter had refrained from making his opinion about eating in bed known - though she was sure once they had sat snuggled up with each other in front of the food this morning, Walter had changed his mind about the topic. 

Walter’s agreeable hum pulled her out of her thoughts. 

“I could stay like this forever, but I assume they are already assembled down there.” Paige sighed. “Ralph will be disappointed he didn’t get in some project time with you before our meeting.” 

“There’ll be plenty of time after the meeting.” Walter leaned in to steal a kiss from Paige’s lips, caustic her to smile. “I share your sentiment. While we can’t stay like this forever, I would not mind drawing out getting up for a few more minutes. I am sure Ralph will still be satisfied with the overall outcome.”

Paige snorted. “That little sneak. He figured out we’d get back together the second he received your text.” 

“He is a genius…” Walter shrugged and Paige playfully slapped his shoulder.   
“Thank you Captain Obvious! I wouldn’t have noticed!” 

xxxXXXxxx

Cabe arrived at the garage a little later than he had aimed for and couldn’t hold back the happy smile that formed on his lips at the familiar and yet so long missed sight in front of him. 

Toby was standing behind his desk, putting books into the his shelf, while Happy was already punishing an innocent piece of metal with her hammer. 

Sylvester meticulously placed his office supplies on his desk. 

Cabe noticed a rather large nondescript bottle with a blue bow around it’s neck. Making an educated guess, Cabe was sure it was a bottle of privately produced hand sanitiser, courtesy of one neighbouring chemist. 

When Sylvester had returned from his conversation with Florence the previous night, he had been giddy and wearing a wide grin.   
Toby had tried to get anything out of him, but Sylvester had refused to disclose any details, but it was obvious that the conversation had been a good one. 

The welcome home gift Florence had left for the human calculator spoke volumes. 

Ralph was sitting on the table in the middle of the room, typing rapidly on his computer. 

There was one pair missing from the scene, but Cabe was sure they would arrive soon, most likely emerging from upstairs, considering Ralph’s presence in the garage and the open door of the air stream that indicated it had been in use.

They didn’t have to wait long for the absent pair. Just a few minutes after Cabe’s arrival, the door to the loft opened and Paige emerged, followed closely by Walter. 

The pair descended the stairs. Paige stopped short, staring at the scene before her, while Walter moved over to the kitchen area to check for coffee. 

“Guys? What’s this?” Paige asked, motioning at them. “I thought we were meeting today to discuss the possibility of giving up Centipede Partners to rejoin Scorpion. You’re already moving in!” 

“Are you having any doubts about rejoining Scorpion?” Happy asked her. 

“Uh.. no, but…” Paige started before Happy cut her off.   
“Neither do we - the rest is just technicalities!” 

“But you are putting us in a weaker position…” Paige tried to protest again. 

“No, it’s efficient!” Walter said from behind her, pressing her favourite mug into her hands. She involuntarily smiled as she smelled cinnamon along with coffee. 

“And the probability that our negations will fail are very slim.” Sylvester added. “We are all willing to work on our personal differences and are all in favour of getting Scorpion back together. We all know and dread the consequences if we don’t.” 

“Fine, okay.” Paige sighed as she sat down at the table in the middle of the room and waited for the others to join her. 

Once everyone was assembled around the table, including Ralph, Cabe was the first to speak up. 

“Before we start with reuniting Scorpion, Collins has been officially transferred from the FBI’s custody to Homeland’s. He’s back in his old prison and won’t be seeing the light of day anytime soon.” 

“I will sleep a lot better now!” Sylvester sighed. 

Cabe nodded. “You’re not the only one! Paige, you can go ahead with this meeting. I hope I’ll be able to return the favour and give Director Rhodes some good news as well.” 

“Walter is the sole owner of Scorpion, at Centipede Partners we were all equal partners. How will we go from there?” Paige looked at the assembled geniuses. 

“Equal partners with equal say in everything!” Toby said, almost aggressively as he stood to his full height. He looked challengingly at Walter, expecting him to contradict him. 

Happy glared at her husband, annoyed that he began their meeting by trying to antagonise Walter. 

“NO!” Everyone’s eyes flew from Walter, whose reaction they had been looking for, to Paige, who had her arms crossed in front of her chest. 

“Excuse me?” Toby asked, his voice pitching in disbelief. “Would you care to elaborate that?” 

“If we all have equal say, we will not be getting anywhere with Scorpion!” Paige sighed, “Toby, Sylvester, I love the two of you, all of you are my family, but do I want to run a company with you as equal partners with equal say in everything ever again? NO! You were all so insistent to have equal say in Centipede Partners, but the only one who did any actual deciding was me - and when I did, half of the time you kept questioning and contradicting my decisions, arguing about them, only to do the same again if I changed my decision to the one you seemed to favor.” 

“Hey, Paige, that was just a ploy to…” Toby tried to placate her, but Paige was only just warming up. 

“You couldn’t even agree on office supplies. Everything had to be turned into a huge discussion and voted upon. We voted on the color of text markers, for crying out loud.” She turned to Walter. 

“I know they don’t want to go back to being simple employees, but please, Walter, don’t let them talk you into total equal say about everything, or I am going to go nuts!” 

“You are right, we don’t want to simply go back to being regular employees…,” Sylvester started, then glared at Toby who clapped his shoulder.   
“That’s my man!” Toby interjected, then quickly withdrew from Sylvester as he saw his withering glare. 

“BUT, I have to agree with Paige! We. well, mainly Toby, have been making a big discussion about every single detail. I mean, we even argued for over three hours about what toilet paper to buy at one point…” 

“You’re just angry you didn’t get your way” Toby grumbled. “Why are you all making me the villain here?” 

“Oh, stop wining, Numbnuts!” Happy grumbled. “Walter, what’s your opinion?” 

“You all remember that I did offer you equal shares a few years ago. But all of you declined because you didn’t want to invest any money into Scorpion. As you know, Scorpion has been in the red figures since I took out that mortgage on the garage to post Cabe’s bail, which then was reused to pay for Happy’s and Toby’s baby project when the charges against Cabe were dropped.” Walter reminisced, “I would be agreeable to the concept of partnership, but not if this goes the way Paige and Sylvester described.”

“I agree with Walter, here!” Cabe interjected. “We can not have you argue about details in the field or in front of a customer!” 

“Before you guys start fighting again, I’d like to make a suggestion.” Ralph suddenly spoke up. 

Everyone looked at the teenager. 

“There is this nice little concept called a compromise. Happy, Toby and Sylvester,” he looked at the three geniuses in turn, “rather want to be partners in Scorpion than employees. Mom, Walter and Cabe,” he looked at the other trio, “don’t want every little thing to be turned into a discussion. Therefore, we find a compromise that combines both. You are all partners, but not every little thing is being decided by everyone. Every one of you has a unique skillset that forms an important piece of Scorpion. Everyone gets a field they are in charge of and can take decisions in without having to ask everyone else for their approval unless it has a vital impact on Scorpion. Only the big decisions that affect Scorpion itself, will be put up for discussion among all equal partners. Like a board of directors where each director has their own segment under their supervision.” 

Walter nodded his agreement. 

“Paige would be in charge of everything that falls into her old role with Scorpion. You were amazing in your position and I can’t imagine any one among us handling it better.” 

Paige blushed slightly at the praise. “Thank you, Walter!” 

“Well, I am pretty sure we all agree that Walter is taking lead in the field!” Happy said.   
Toby looked at her with surprise. 

“Don’t look at me like that, he is the best at considering all our abilities and put it into a plan. Crazy plans, sometimes, but so far Scorpion solved every case.” 

“I would feel a lot safer with Walter calling the shots in the field.” Sylvester agreed. 

“That sounds reasonable.” Walter nodded. “Not only about me being the leader in the field, but about each partner getting a field they are in charge of and not everything having to be discussed in detail. We will hold weekly meetings to keep up to date about each other’s fields.” 

“Good, everyone in favour, please raise your hand!” Paige said. 

Everyone raised their hands.   
“What fields will we be in charge of?” Sylvester asked. “Walter and Paige are pretty clear, but what about rest of us. 

“Contracts and legal matters.” Paige pointed at Sylvester, then looked at Happy. “Equipment and the security of the garage. Toby would be in charge of health and safety in medical regards.” 

Paige suddenly looked speculative. “Cabe, do you think you could get Director Rhodes to supply agents as “muscle” for our cases in future?” 

Cabe raised an eyebrow at her. 

“Walter is always doing all that physically dangerous stuff, but he’s also the brains of Scorpion. If we loose him, we loose an important part of Scorpion.   
Remember when Tim was with us?” 

She ignored Walter’s unhappy grunt at the mentioning of the interloper. 

“We had an extra homeland agent for exactly what purpose?” She continued. “I have to admit I didn’t realise it back then, but we had this young ex Navy Seal with us, but the one going down into tar pits was Walter, who isn’t trained for this kind of action.” A small grin appeared on her face, “Thought he could use some workout.” 

Walter opened his mouth to protest, but closed it again as he saw the mischievous glint in her eyes, daring him to protest. Instead he grumbled to himself. 

“And to be honest, I am scared each and every time Walter heads into danger.. At least for the Homeland cases, I would really like Homeland to carry part of that danger on their shoulders.” 

“I could do more of the…” Cabe started, but Paige shook her head.   
“No! You are not the youngest anymore and you already take on all the dangerous stuff you still physically can. I want you to live to see retirement and enjoy it with Allie.” She smiled. “I also don’t want Toby or Happy to do more dangerous stuff if it’s not necessary. They are planning to adopt. It will help their application if they can make a point that they will not be the ones running headlong into physical danger for Homeland.” 

Paige turned to Walter.   
“And I want us to become a family, Walter, I want us to work this time and I want to have a baby with you. Well, not right now, obviously, we just got back together last night, but one day, I would like to have a child with you.” 

“You… you want a baby with me?” Walter looked at her wide eyed. 

Paige immediately regretted bringing the topic up in front of everyone. She had been getting ahead of herself with arguing for more Homeland involvement in their own cases and the last part had just slipped out before she couldn’t come to the conclusion that it would have better been discussed in private first. It wasn’t like Scorpion’s members didn’t have a habit of blurting things out… 

“I’m sorry, I should have waited until we’re alone until I brought it up.” 

“No, no, it’s okay.” Walter smiled. “I just… I thought we would already be a complete family, you, Ralph and me.” 

Paige smiled. “Of course we are. But I would love to have a child with you. I… I have to admit there were a few days a couple of months back when I thought I might be pregnant. I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure. But when the pregnancy test was negative, I was a bit disappointed.  
So, yes, I want to have a baby with you - unless you don’t want to?” 

“I.. yes, I’d love to have a baby with you!” Walter replied, a smile stealing onto his face. 

The topic had come out of the blue for him, but his brain rapidly processed the new information and he liked the idea more and more each second. 

“So, my first project being in charge of Scorpion’s health and safety will be project Baby Waige!” Toby piped up, far too enthusiastic for Paige’s liking. 

Paige rolled her eyes. “Walter and my baby plans will NOT fall into your area, Toby! Besides, we are not going to start trying for a baby right now.” 

“Don’t wait too long, your biological clock is ticking, Ms. Dineen!” Toby said, then cried out as Happy painfully jabbed his rips. 

Paige stared Toby down until he gulped and quickly changed the topic. “So…uh… is Scorpion back together?” 

Walter looked around at the others, then slowly nodded. 

“I’d way yes, Scorpion is back together.” 

The end.

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: 
> 
> I am not going to ask for reviews by threatening to only continue this story with the next chapters if I get reviews - I have drafted this thing out till the end, so I am going to post it anyways - but reviews are highly appreciated. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this story. But I have to warn you - my first intention when I started this a few weeks ago was to have it being a lighthearted piece of just one, two chapters max… unfortunately the story had other ideas. 
> 
> But don’t worry, I am not going to go too dark! But it’s not going to be just all fun either…


End file.
